Hi! Thanks to the reviewers on the last chapter - Zeroastai, Lucifer143, and Boris Yeltsin. :) I appreciate you! Lucifer143, you wished for a chapter where Beck doesn't get upset at Jade and fully supports her. Call me your genie and enjoy this take on the "Prome" episode. ;) At least, I hope you enjoy! I did! I know it's a very "done" episode in fanfiction, but I had to give it a go!

...

Story warning: Tomorrow (September 30th) in Canada (my country), there is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Canada has a sad history of mistreating our Indigenous people. Residential school cemetery discoveries last year are what prompted the national government to finally acknowledge this travesty with a day of recognition, but the issues are far more recent and larger than that. No clean water on so many reserves, lack of support systems necessary for helping break generational cycles of hurt, insufficient addictions help... the list goes on and on. A couple of years ago I did some research into the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and that changed me. I decided to bring a bit of that into this story quite a while before I realized that I'd end up posting it on September 29th, but I'm glad that it turned out this way.

My reasoning for Beck being Indigenous? In the episode with Moose, he calls kindergarten a word I didn't know and said, "That's what they call kindergarten in Canada." I'd never heard of it, so research was done! Apparently "feeferdoon" is a word used in some Indigenous communities for kindergarten (but not all, from what I remember). Thus, in my version of Beck, his dad is Indigenous. I tried my best to give a respectful representation of this issue in Canada. I am not Indigenous, but I do hope for better care for those who are. And if anyone who is part of Canada's Indigenous population reads this and finds mistakes, please let me know so that I can improve!

...

A slightly happier note is that this chapter got quite long and somewhere in the middle was a bit of unrelated fluff about Cat that just kept growing (like a little fluff ball!), so I'm going to post a tiny one-shot about her connected to this (likely later tonight). I will probably call it "Assistant Director, Candy Specialist". :) Be on the look out!

Now, sorry for the insanely long author's note. Learn from the sad parts. Enjoy the happy parts.

...

It was not long before the Olivers had to return to Canada - this time for a heart-breaking reason.

Beck had a cousin, Desiree, who had been missing without a trace for five years. Beck could hardly remember her - she had often been off the Manitoban reserve when he visited with his parents - but he knew that she had been important and deeply loved by the entire family. His few, fuzzy memories of her were her playing with the cousins, leading them on adventures in the woods and then serving countless glasses of chocolate milk. But then shortly after a visit when Beck was twelve, a phone call that froze blood in their veins came from his aunt. Desiree had not come home. And she never did again.

Her disappearance, like so many other Indigenous girls and young women in the forsaken reserves, had never gotten the proper attention from the police and RCMP. Despite her being a twenty-two-year-old young woman with a stable job, steady and kind boyfriend, and deep commitment to her family, the police had seemed to think that it was normal that she had disappeared. The fact that she never returned with the bread and milk she had gone to town for was seen as a cover-up for her to run away and disappear to the big city to engage in sex work.

It was then that Beck fully learned about how often the local police often got calls from frantic Indigenous families. Daughters, wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers - girls and women were swallowed up from all directions around the community, but especially on the long, solitary road leading out. Desiree, like many before and after her, had likely hitchhiked to town. Despite the horrible risks, without proper public transportation from a community that the government would rather ignore unless it was extorting natural resources from its bounds, it was often a risk that the young people took. It was also a risk that they paid for dearly.

Beck knew the statistics. He had not understood it all at the time, but he had not been particularly shielded. His parents knew that he would need to know the sorrows of his heritage. And so, Beck was told. Facts were explained. And the tears and angry sorrow was shared. He knew that Desiree was likely dead, probably assaulted and killed by whatever trucker had lured her into their truck with the promise of a free ride to town. There was a high chance there would never be a body, and an even higher chance that there would never be justice. Beyond their reserve and family and indigenous nation, it seemed like no one cared.

That was why every year Beck's aunt held a vigil - Justice for Desiree. There would be a march with traditional drumming, chanted prayers, and so many tears. They would all hold up pictures of Desiree, begging the public to take notice, to report anything they knew, to join in the search, to finally value every girl as much as a white one. Every year Beck had been there for the vigil, no matter what shows, auditions, parties, or events were happening in his California home. His parents prioritized family, and he did too.

That was why, despite Jade's planned performance for the weekend, Beck had flown over the border to uphold his family obligations. Although Jade was often annoyed when he had to leave - she did not completely understand his love of family, her own being fractured - this was one thing that she always understood. When Beck had started to apologize for not being able to attend her "Clowns Don't Bounce" show, she had cut him off with a "don't you dare apologize. Just text if you need to talk, okay? And be safe."

Upon his return, he realized that Jade had not made that "text if needed" request mutual. After a few frantic kisses upon his return - she had been lying in wait in his RV so that not a second was wasted - he was easily able to tell that she was agitated and upset about something.

"What happened, Jade?" he asked, feeling his stomach tighten a little. After a weekend of talking about worst-case scenarios, his body and mind were on edge.

"It ... doesn't matter. How was your trip? How's your family?" Jade asked.

Beck picked her up and carried her to the couch, sitting down with her on his lap. He hugged her tightly. "I've told you that it was hard but comforting to be with each other. I'm glad I was there for Aunt Rachel. But now tell me what is going on with you, because I can tell something happened."

Jade bit her lip a little and looked at him speculatively. "I'm not sure if I should tell you."

"Why?"

"Well, you might get upset."

Beck took that as an acceptable risk and very soon he was upset. He was more than upset. He was angry, interrupting Jade's explanation.

"So, they cancelled your show for a stupid prom that no one even pronounced properly?!"

"Yeah. But ... and this is the part you might not like..."

"I already don't like any of it!" Beck interrupted roughly. Jade flushed a little, pleased that the normally unperturbed Beck Oliver was upset on her behalf but also nervous that he would then transfer some of his annoyance to her after she confessed to her methods of revenge. She knew that he was usually against her underground versions of justice. Thus, she was surprised when her fairly accurate representation of her schemes - honestly admitting that she had been angry, mean, and hell-bent on destroying the 'prome' experience for all attendees - did not even stir the slightest frustration in her boyfriend.

"Served them right," he said, hugging her possessively.

"Really?" Jade said in disbelief.

"They were awful to you, except for making you prom queen. You deserved that."

"BECKER!"

"What?! Being prom queen is a good thing! It means that everyone likes you!"

"I don't want everyone to like me! And it wasn't a compliment, Beck."

"It probably was." They finally hit upon a moment of disagreement and Jade was shocked that this was where Beck was drawing the line - that their classmates liked her!

"It was all a trick that Tori used to humiliate me!" she insisted. "The prom king was the diaper quasi-stripper guy that I hired. There was no way that he would have been voted prom king! People hated him! Tori rigged the results to get revenge on me since she saw that everything else she said or did wasn't bothering me. She paired me with a disgusting dude to prove that I was like him - worthy of being hated and ostracized and ..."

At this juncture, Jade burst into tears in a very unfamiliar gesture. Beck was horrified and hugged her even more tightly.

"I'm sorry, babe, I'm sorry! I didn't think of it that way. And if that's what happened, then Tori did something worse to you than you have ever done to her."

"That wasn't even all!" Jade admitted as her crying began to become even more shaky and broken. "They let him carry me away!"

"What?!" Beck asked, freshly sensitized to the risks of strangers going off with young women. He struggled not to shout. He could understand why Jade - with abnormally high levels of anger - could rarely spend a day without yelling at some point. It would feel good. But right now, his own feelings had to take second place to Jade's, and she seemed particularly fragile tonight.

Jade completely dissolved as Beck's reaction reminded her of the fear that had completely possessed her that night. Doug the Diaper Guy had not been as creepy as one may have been expected - he had thought that Jade must have liked his routines since she was the one who hired him. He set her down once he got in the school and realized that she was no longer freaking out just at Tori. The several kicks and shoves that she gave him once her feet touched the ground confirmed that and he yelled in confusion, "I thought that you arranged that! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just want to get paid and get home to my family! Don't kill me!" The final plea had been withdrawn by the arrival of Jade's defense scissors, and the genuine terror and innocence in his voice had broken through the terror that had taken a hold of her the moment she realized that he was touching her.

No one touched Jade West without her permission. Beck and Cat had permission (normally), but no one else did, not even her family. It was not even a regular distaste of being touched. There was something that tremored sickeningly within her very core when touched without permission or when manipulated into allowing it. Tori might be pleased that she had convinced Jade to hug her a couple of times, but it had never been entirely "willing" on Jade's side, simply the lesser of two evils in those moments. Jade did not know what had planted that deep discomfort - and experienced intrusive worries about her lack of knowledge - but she did know that more than anything else, sustained nonconsensual touch drove her into uncontrollable fear. So, when a mostly naked, yelling and sweaty man had lifted her, rumpling her dress and ignoring her initial screams of rage, Jade had been triggered into a primal self-protection that ended with the startled man's own cries of pain before a terrified Jade had thrown the money for his fee at him before racing out the door and hiding the rest of the weekend in her bedroom, startling at every sound.

It had been horrible to not talk to Beck about it, but she had been determined not to bother him with what she valiantly attempted to classify as "stupid hurt feelings", although she knew at heart-depth that it was a worthy reason to be upset. And of all people who understood that which could not be fully understood about Jade was Beck. Hearing the story in all of its tear-inducing detail hurt his own heart on behalf of his dear, frightened girlfriend who was shaking again a little even at the memory. He held Jade tightly and caressed her cheeks, wiping the tears away as they obstructed her view.

"You're safe now," he whispered gently. "You're safe with me, and you always will be."

Jade rested against him, easily believing his words. "I know," she whispered back. Then she set her mind to forgetting about the horrid evening. She was not usually one to forgive and forget - and forgiving was far from her mind - but she was tired from all the fear connected with remembering that night solo for the last while, and having talked it over with Beck, she was determined to ignore that it had ever had any sort of hold on her. Perhaps it would be worth it to prepare to put on "Clowns Don't Bounce", now that all Beck's Canadian commitments were fulfilled for the near future.

But Beck did not forget.

...

Beck was back at school on Monday. Jade was off, lurking near the coffee stall. Beck knew that she was still feeling irritable over the prome, and when she needed a little extra caffeine, she would often gulp a coffee and then buy a second cup for the rest of the morning. There would be a good five minutes until she showed up, giving him these unwanted moments where people would try to "fill him in" on the side of the story they would assume Jade had hidden.

"Hey! Beck! Did you hear how Jade tried to ruin the prome?" Tori burst out as soon as she saw Beck was back from what she assumed was a vacation.

Beck took a deep, steadying breath and tried to ignore what was clearly an attempt to tattle. He still found it amusing that people thought that he could "control" Jade. Granted, he was able to convince her of things a lot better than nearly anyone else, and he was unafraid to hold her back when such an action was warranted (such as holding her back from strangling some unfortunate victim who offended her in some way). He knew that he was one of the only individuals who would dare to throw himself in front of a furious Jade West, and so he did so for the good of his friends, school ... possibly the city.

Still, although he did find it amusing sometimes to have a perturbed Jade held firmly in his arms, there was no need for the gang to immediately assume that he would take their side over Jade's. Even though he had heard about all the mischief that she had caused - she had admitted it on her own and he had not seen any of her tells indicating that she was keeping back a less favourable side of the story - he was not annoyed at her in the least. Indeed, his frustration was aimed in a very different direction.

"Beck! Welcome back," Andre said. He had texted Beck over his vacation. Like Jade, he knew what the yearly trips to Canada at this time of year meant. The others simply knew that Beck was away for a "family matter", as he did not care to have one of the most sensitive parts of his family life and identity broadcasted indiscriminately.

"Yeah," Beck brushed it off, trying not to engage.

"What's wrong, man?" Andre asked, catching on that Beck was not as relaxed as normal.

"Beck! Did you hear what I said about Jade and the prome?" Tori interrupted, bringing it up again. Apparently, he was not going to be able to simply ignore it.

"Yes, I did," he said shortly, turning to her with a spark of frustration in his eyes. "I heard about it all right. And it sucks that none of you cared enough about supporting Jade to have possibly tried telling Sikowitz that she had something planned that weekend. It's amazing how she comes out to each of your events, but ... what? Was no one planning on attending? That's the only thing that makes sense for why you wouldn't know the date of an event happening in just a couple days."

"I was going to go but then there was prome instead 'cause Jade's show got cancelled. Jade was really, really sad about it, and I was sad too. But it was nice because I got to sing at the prome with Tori, since I couldn't watch Jade's show anymore, and Jade said it was okay for me to go and not worry about her, and then she even came and I thought it was lots of fun," Cat chirped, walking in on the conversation at this moment. Beck had to take a deep breath and remember to be grateful that Cat - dear, often-clueless Cat - was still Jade's biggest fan (Jade had told him that Cat definitely beat him out in being supportive). It was good to hear that she seemed to think that Jade had cancelled her show and then the prome happened to fall on the same date.

"Thanks, Cat," he said gratefully, before turning to the others, who were now fully gathered and looking more than a little ashamed. "So, Cat was planning on supporting Jade. Was anyone else? No one." He chuckled humourlessly. "And you wonder why she might have been a little upset?"

"A little upset! She tried to ruin prome!" Tori protested, with Robbie and Andre nodding in support of her words. Cat was looking uncertain and twisting her hands in her pockets. She discovered a piece of candy and was promptly distracted. Beck did not worry about regaining her focus as she was not the one he was rebuking.

"And you tried to humiliate her in return for that, instead of checking in on how she was dealing with crushing disappointment," Beck shot back evenly at Tori. He had intended to stop there, but the words started pouring out and he could not end without adding more. "Think I didn't hear about the 'prome queen' and you letting a diaper stripper guy carry her off? How in the world did that seem right to you?! You're the one always calling yourself Jade's friend. You sure didn't act like it. None of you did."

That stopped Tori for a moment. She was a normally caring person who tried to be sensitive to others. Her own parents had not set the greatest examples of that characteristic, and so it was no wonder that she slipped up sometimes, especially in competitive situations like those she often found herself in with Jade. She bit the inside of her cheek as she thought over all the performances that Jade had come out to in support of her. Whether or not it involved Beck or Cat dragging her, she had still been there. She had to admit that she had not been too interested in attending Jade's show, and the date for it had slipped her mind in the excitement over the idea of hosting a prom. When Jade had angrily confronted her on it, her ire had sparked Tori's own temper and she had been determined to "not give in", even though now she realized that would have been the better idea. She flushed and tears leaped to her eyes repentantly.

"I ... I ..." She could not think of the right words to say.

"I ... I ...," an approaching voice mocked. Jade arrived at Beck's side and shot Tori a snide look. "What? You can't remember your lines again?" She turned away from the group and kissed Beck's cheek, not wanting to actually engage with the others beyond a few verbal pokes at Tori.

"I'm really sorry about the prome," Tori burst out, surprising Jade whose eyes seemed to double in size. Jade turned to Beck and mouthed, "You told them?!"

Beck shrugged. There was no way that he was going to be able to mouth what he had said without Jade getting confused, and Tori seemed bent on apologizing, so he was not going to interrupt her.

"We didn't mean to be such awful people," Tori continued sadly. "No wonder you were mad. We sort of sabotaged your play ..."

"Sort of?"

"Well, we did, but ... I mean, and we're all sorry. Right, guys?"

Robbie and Andre nodded, chiming in "Yeah, we really are sorry" and "We'll do better in the future."

"Did I do something wrong?" Cat asked, peering up at her friends with confusion, having just popped the candy into her mouth.

"No, you didn't," Jade said firmly, pulling Cat to her side while she frowned at the others, letting what was unsaid speak. Cat adoringly looked up at Jade.

"Yay! Hugs!" she squealed, snuggling against Jade's side. Jade did not immediately push Cat away, indicating that she did need at least a little bit of comfort. It was a surprising concept - Jade had not just been upset. She had been hurt, by them. It shocked them into silence as Jade turned to Beck and took his hand, pulling him away with her. Her arm was still around Cat, who giggled at being pulled on an "adveeeeeenture!" down the hallway. The others felt a level of jealousy at Cat being the center of Jade's favour - something that they had never expected to feel (except Tori, who often struggled to understand why her attempts to become friends with Jade were pushed aside while Cat's "annoying" behaviour endeared herself to their mysterious friend).

"Well, we suck," Robbie said disconsolately, and Tori and Andre could only agree.

...

"So, how do we make it up to Jade?" Tori asked.

"Woah! Where did you guys come from?" Beck asked in surprise as Tori, Andre, and Robbie seemingly materialized by the table the moment Jade disappeared for coffee. Cat jumped in her seat and dove toward Beck for protection, then giggled wildly once she recognized her friends.

"Don't choke, Cat," Beck said as calmly as if this was an everyday reminder, gently turning her back around to look at her plate. When Cat got distracted, it took her forever to eat anywhere near enough to count as a meal. Beck frowned a little at them, clearly preferring Cat's company to theirs in Jade's absence, but they were on a mission.

"What were you saying?" he asked shortly.

"How can we make it up to Jade? She's clearly not wanting just an apology. We feel real bad about what we did. Can you give us any advice on how to make it up to her?" Tori repeated at a desperately fast pace. The plan was to ambush Beck (and Cat) for ideas while Jade was on her lunchtime coffee break, but to be well out of the area before she returned. They were working on limited time as most people got out of the way when they saw Jade behind them in line. Something about her presence looming behind them, along with a side of mutters, made most people step to the side with a "You go ahead" without eye contact.

"You could ask Jade," Beck said with a slight smirk. He knew what they were doing, and he knew that he was indeed their best source for information, but that did not mean that he was going to go easy on them.

"Jade's sadism is rubbing off on you," Andre said with frustration. They needed Beck to cooperate, and he was not doing that!

"Hey, just making up for all the time I was away and unable to be annoyed at you in real-time," Beck shot back. He glowered at Andre who glared back. The air was tense around the table. It looked like things might escalate into a rare fight, but Cat piped up at that moment.

"Make her play go on like she wanted it. That's fair. I think? Is it?" She paused dipping her carrot sticks repeatedly into her container of salad dressing, looking to Beck for confirmation with her eyes wide and curious.

Beck hesitated, surprised by Cat's good idea breaking him out of his mounting frustration. He smiled at her, then nodded. "Yeah, I think it would be." He turned to the group. "Help her put on her play the way that she wanted it."

"It sounded complicated..." Tori said, and Robbie nodded, but Beck interrupted them.

"So was pulling off a prom in a week, but you did it. I'm sure that following Jade's plans for the original event wouldn't be too difficult."

"It was a prome," Tori muttered under her breath.

"Learn how to pronounce properly," Beck grumbled. He motioned to the edge of the courtyard. "Jade's coming, just so you know." He turned his focus back to Cat as the others scattered. "Cat! Jade told you to finish eating your sandwich before you got back, and you haven't taken a single bite!"

"You distracted me!" Cat wailed. "And besides, she said that you needed to remind me to keep eating and you didn't! You were too busy talking with..."

"Cat, eat. Beck, stop distracting her," Jade said shortly, sitting down between them. Cat immediately jammed her sandwich into her mouth. Jade had been happy with her so far today and she wanted to keep it that way. Jade turned to Beck and idly asked, "Were they by? That's who Cat's saying you were talking too, right?"

Beck shrugged. He didn't want to lie, but he also did not want to make it appear that he was on "their" side. His silence let Jade know that she was correct, but it left it up to her whether or not she wanted to ask follow-up questions. She sighed and leaned against his shoulder, mumbling, "Good thing they left. I'm not furious or anything anymore, but still not ready to talk to them."

Beck patted her back and she relaxed into him ... but not enough that she was missing anything going on around her.

"Cat, I swear if I see you sneak one more carrot stick into your coat pocket instead of into your mouth ...!"

...

"That was not as awful as I thought it would be," Tori sighed in relief.

"I could say the same thing about your shirt," Jade said, but it was lacking venom. Even Tori did not pretend to be offended over the comment.

"Good job on the show, Jade," Andre complimented her from where he was sitting on the stage steps, utterly exhausted after the efforts of the last two weeks.

The gang had truly united in putting on Jade's show. Tori had used her persuasiveness to get a spot opened for Jade in the school schedule and then dedicated herself to promoting it until each showing was jam-packed and sold-out. Andre, with Jade's guidance, had crafted a musical score for her show, upping the creepiness with distorted themes at key moments. Despite his protests that he had no experience, Robbie had been a ventriloquist for a possessed juggling ball that somehow played a part in the murder, as the original voicer had to be out of town for his sister's wedding. Beck, pleased to be able to be involved after all, was in charge of sets with Frankie, the original girl who had agreed to help Jade in exchange for advice on building a goth wardrobe. Cat, after a near miss in the costume department, was promoted to Jade's "assistant director" and relished the role.

All of them had helped set up the venue and been Jade's "assistants"/servants non-stop for every little need that she declared connected to the show in any way. Tori doubted that buying Jade five cups of coffee a day (and occasionally a bag of jellybeans or packages of other candies for Assistant Director Cat) was directly show-related, but she let the extortion happen as a penance for stealing the original date. Jade's friendship - however tenuous of a term that was - meant more to her than pocket change.

And now, after all the work, it was done. And Jade was pleased. She even smiled at them all as she climbed the stage for the last time of the night.

"Great show, everyone. I'd thank you for the help, but I think you owed me."

Beck pulled her into a hug from behind and whispered something into her ear. She half-smiled and shrugged a bit.

"Fine. We're even now."

"Good, because I don't think I have any more spending money for the next couple months," Tori groaned. She looked at Beck. "I don't know how you afford her!"

"Couldn't do without her, so I make it work," he said with a smile, kissing Jade's cheek. Jade leaned back a little to get a better angle to kiss him back while still remaining wrapped up in his arms.

...

Later that night, as he was dropping her off at her mom's house after a late supper with the group, Jade turned to Beck before getting out of the car.

"Thanks for being on my side the whole way on this."

Beck nodded. "Of course."

"I ... I hadn't thought that you would be."

"Because of the prom pranks?"

"Yeah. I thought you'd be mad about that."

Beck shrugged and smirked. "After a week of thinking of worst-case scenarios, a few scared high schoolers doesn't seem too bad. And you deserved to do your show without being 'upstaged'. So, mitigating circumstances satisfy you on that?"

She smiled back. "Sure." She paused, then continued, "I really did appreciate it, Beck. It's ... it's easy to sometimes feel like everyone is against me." He opened his mouth to say that he wasn't, but she smiled, already knowing what he would say. "I know you aren't, Beck, but sometimes when I'm upset, it seems that way, especially if you're telling me to calm down. And when I'm mad ..."

They both knew her communication skills and desire to adhere to common sense sucked when she was upset.

"Anyway, yeah. Thanks for ... being there for me and only me. I know that I don't need that all the time, but I did this time. And you knew. So ... thank you."

Beck did not even tease her about thanking him twice in one breath. Instead, he leaned over, kissed her cheek, and whispered, "Of course. And I love you."

"I love you too."

...

Yay! This was a very long chapter. I'm glad to finally have something done that I'm happy with.

Make sure to check out the connected one-shot of Cat when it goes up. :)

Until next time, stay safe and blessed. :)