"Get out of the way asshole!" Jade screamed at the top of her lungs as she slammed on her car horn. According to the latest update from her phone's traffic app, someone's tire popped which was causing the delay on the highway. She grumbled as she slumped back in her seat and quickly switched over to the far lane and managed to catch the exit before getting dragged along by the slow midday traffic. Luckily, the traffic lights seemed to be on her side and she had green lights at every intersection as she sped down the road to the address Trina had texted her.

With some "persuasion," as Jade liked to call it, she managed to get the list of ingredients from the elder Vega sister and managed to get her out of the house for the weekend while her parents were away on their anniversary vacation. Right now, Tori should be laying about the living room while Trina distracts her with questions, or knowing Trina, it was most likely useless gossip about the latest guy she planned on trying to go out with. On the right, her destination came into view and she pulled off of the main road, snagged the closest parking spot, and rushed in as fast as she could.

With a shopping basket in hand, Jade jogged down the rows of produce and meticulously searched for the ingredients she needed, and tossed them into her basket. She scrolled to the bottom of the list and found that the only thing left that she needed was some turmeric seasoning. The aisle containing that sort of thing was coming up and Jade ran over towards it, dodging around a couple of people lazily pushing their carts, earning her some glares to which she ignored. As she rounded the corner, there was a sign that hung overhead on the shelf that contained her prize! With a confident smirk adorning her lips, she strolled forward and snagged the bottle of seasoning only to be met with resistance as another hand latched onto the bottle.

Jade looked and locked eyes with a middle-aged woman with short-cut blonde hair who was gripping the side of the bottle like a vice. She scowled at Jade and said, "Sorry but this is mine."
To which Jade stepped closer, getting in the woman's face, and said, "You have one chance to drop it. I did not drive all the way from San Francisco to deal with your bullshit. Let go of the turmeric and I'll let you keep your fingers."

To emphasize her point, Jade lifted her foot and reached down into her boot, and flashed her silver scissors at the woman who gasped and looked at her in horror. She sputtered and stammered for words as Jade yanked the seasoning from her and shoved the bottle into her basket and walked away feeling smug. The older woman behind her looked around and spotted an employee and yelled, "You! Get me your manager right now!"

The employee looked at her then quickly picked up the box of product they had been stocking and walked away which infuriated the woman even more as she stormed after them screaming, "Excuse me! I was speaking to you!"

By that time though, Jade was long gone as she went up to the self-checkout, paid for her items, and raced back out to her car. The next place on her list was her house but before she made it back, her phone started to ring. She swiped to accept the call and said, "Yeah?"

On the other end, Trina hurriedly whispered in an agitated tone, "Where are you?! You said you would be here by now!"

"Okay first off, never use that tone with me again," Jade said sternly. "Secondly, there was traffic all along the fucking highway! There were three accidents on my way here! I just finished shopping and I'm almost at my house then I'll be over in probably thirty minutes, forty at the most."

"Okay, just hurry!" Trina said as she glanced back out to the living room where Tori was laying on the couch, watching videos on her laptop. "I made plans like you asked so I'll be out of your hair. But you'll hold up your end of the deal, right?"

Jade rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, Trina. I've already ordered the stupid perfume set and it'll be here in a couple of days."

"Don't you call that perfume stupid! Beyonce, herself, endorses it! It's amazing!" Trina fired back over the phone.

"You haven't even tried a sample of it! No, you know what? Whatever. Just keep an eye on her for a bit longer and I'll text you when I get close," Jade hung up the phone and sped up down the road towards her house and grumbled to herself, "The things I do for you, Vega."

Soon enough, she parked her car in the driveway and briskly walked inside and tossed her bag to the floor, and made her way to the kitchen where she was surprised to find her father of all people standing over a simmering pot of water. Jade set her bags of groceries on the counter and said, "Dad?"

He looked over his shoulder and did a double-take as he said, "Oh Jade! You're back. Your stepmother said you were on your way."

"Yeah…what are you doing?" Jade asked as she unpacked her ingredients.

"Well, Diana had to go to an emergency meeting and couldn't get the things set up that you needed," he motioned over to the rest of the counter where Jade now noticed had a couple of cutting boards with the things, she requested lying about and a couple of sheets of paper that appeared to have taken some water damage and stained by something else. Her father motioned towards the stove and said, "I overheard your talk with her, and well…"

She noticed that on his right hand, several of his fingertips were wrapped in bandages which he quickly tried to hide as he said, "Well, anyway…umm, yes. The first steps are all done for you. I've got it simmering so if you want to take a shower and refresh you should have around fifteen minutes until the next steps—"

He was cut off by Jade as she kept her eyes honed in towards the floor and approached him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. The usually cold and reserved businessman was shocked but slowly hugged her back. As quickly as it started, it was over and the two pulled apart and they awkwardly cleared their throats and tried to not look at one another as Jade motioned towards the stairway and said, "I'll just take a quick shower then."

She turned on her heels and walked out of the kitchen and down the hall but as she reached the stairs, her father's voice stopped her as he said, "Jade!"

The young writer glanced back at him and watched him struggle to speak but eventually, he found the words he wanted and said, "Tori is a very sweet young woman. I'm…happy you are with her."

Jade analyzed her father from across the hall and took in his words and sensed that he was being genuine and supportive for once. She gave him a nod and started to walk up the stairs up stopped and looked back at him and said, "Thanks…Dad."

The two then gave each other a nod and Jade was able to run upstairs and freshen up after her long seven-hour drive. She had woken up at the crack of dawn and grabbed some food and left her dorm and planned to be back home by noon at the latest, but with the traffic and delays, it was nearing two in the afternoon. Yet in record time, Jade managed to shower and put on some fresh clothes, reapply some makeup, and fixed her hair before jogging back downstairs and took over the rest of the cooking from her father, to which he was greatly relieved. He set out some containers for her and left her on her own as she added in the rest of the ingredients and started to stir them into the bubbling concoction. By this time, Jade practically had the recipe memorized but had to make sure it was perfect as she read through them one more time and brought the spoon out to sample the soup. She sipped it and let the savored the taste for a moment, analyzing it to the best of her abilities, and mumbled to herself, "Needs more turmeric."

Grabbing the bottle of seasoning, she smirked as she thought back to the bitchy woman, she snatched it from and sprinkled some more in before mixing it some more and giving it another try. This time she smiled and felt confident that she got the proportions right and turned off the stove and started to pour the soup in the containers and sealed them shut to ensure they stayed as fresh as possible. She then grabbed her phone and sent Trina a text that she was on her way and gathered up the small tubs of soup and got in her car and pulled out at blazing speed.

Before she knew it, Jade was parking in her usual spot in the driveway of the Vega house and spotted Trina looking at her through one of the windows and nodding her head, mouthing the words to tell her to hurry up. Jade waved her off and gathered the bag with the containers and quietly closed her car door and made her way to the house, finding the front door unlocked as usual. Once she opened it, Trina was grabbing a small jacket and her keys and called back over her shoulder to Tori who was still bundled up on the couch, and said, "Tori! I'll be back later, just call me if you need something okay?"

"Trina, I don't need you to babysit me, I'm just sick," Tori said before covering her mouth and coughing a few more times and groaned before saying, "I'll be fine."

Jade strolled behind Tori as Trina distracted her by saying, "Alright, alright. I was just trying to be helpful."

"You are, you're the best Trina," Tori weakly said with a smile.

"She's the best?" Jade spoke up from the kitchen as she unpacked the soup she had prepared, causing Tori to whip around and nearly cry as she saw her girlfriend. "I guess I'll just head back to my dorm then. Trina said you were sick and I thought I would come by and nurse you back to health."

She pretended to pack the containers back up as she said, "But since you don't need me, I'll just leave."

Tori jogged over as quickly as she could and wrapped Jade up in a hug, the blanket she had bundled herself in was discarded on the floor behind her. The two stood there for a long while, embraced in each other's arms as Jade softly rubbed Tori's back and kissed her cheek, and said, "I missed you."

"I told you that you didn't have to come," Tori said just barely over a whisper and a couple of tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Just because we can't go out for your birthday doesn't mean we can't still spend it together," Jade said as she cupped Tori's cheeks and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead. She wiped away the tears and continued, "Now get your ass back on that couch and under the blankets before I force you back on there. I can see you're shivering! Just relax and I'll have the soup ready shortly."

Trina who was still in the doorway smugly smiled and put her phone away, having snagged a very sweet picture of the two of them embracing and said, "Happy birthday Tori, I'll be back in a day or two. Jade, you've got the list for the meds and all that."

Tori wiped away a tear and waved her sister off as she closed the door while Tori sat back on the couch and got comfortable under the blankets again. Jade came over and set a couple of bowls of soup down and some drinks and said, "You're pick on the movies, I promise, I won't groan during any of the romantic shit."

The comment made Tori laugh but it was cut short as she coughed and apologized before picking up the bowl without looking and said, "How do you know I'm going to pick a romance movie?"

Jade stopped stirring her soup and gave Tori a deadpan glare and waited until the young Hispanic woman blushed, the color bright against her noticeably paler complexion, and said, "Okay, maybe I was going to pick one," she then looked into the bowl and noticed what the contents were and tried not to make a face but took the spoon to try and eat it but was stopped by Jade's hand grabbing her wrist. "What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong," Tori said as she took the spoon again and cooled it a little by blowing on it.

"No, you made a face," Jade said sternly. "What's wrong with it? Did I mess it up? I followed the recipe to the letter."

"No, no," Tori said as she took her first bite of the soup. "It tastes just like when mom makes it."
Jade gave her a confused look and said, "So what's the problem? Trina said on the phone that golden turmeric miso soup is what your mom always makes when you're sick."

Tori set the bowl down after realizing the source of the confusion and said, "Babe…she made that all the time when Trina was sick. I wasn't a fan of it. Never really liked turmeric."

There was a chill in the air as Tori brought the blanket closer around her torso as she risked it and glanced at Jade who was trembling with rage. "She's dead," was all pale young woman said as she stood and marched towards the door.

She flung it open and caught Trina in the driveway, sitting in her car texting someone as she screamed, "Trina! That's your favorite! Not Tori's! You're dead!"

Trina looked like deer caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic and quickly tried to pull out of the driveway as Jade started to charge towards her but was stopped by Tori who was holding her from behind. She tried to speak but started to cough again which brought Jade's focus back to her. Without a word, she glanced at Trina's car as she sped away and then back to Tori and scooped her up in her arms and walked her back to the couch, and set her down gently.

Jade then sat behind Tori and wrapped her arms around her and pulled the blanket around the two of them and then spoke, almost spooking Tori when she did as she said, "I got you that perfume Beyonce released. It'll be here tomorrow."

"You did?! Jade, you didn't have to! That stuff is crazy expensive!" Tori said in surprise. "You already came back for my birthday and that's more than enough! You didn't need to buy me anything! I'm just sorry I got sick. I could kiss you if I c—"

She was cut off as Jade pulled her into her lap and leaned around her shoulder and kissed her on the lips as sweet and tenderly as she could. Tori cut it off though as she covered her mouth and said, "Jade! You might get sick!"

"Worth it," Jade responded as she hugged Tori. "You deserve only the best. Besides, if I do get sick, I know you'll be right there at my bedside, won't you?"

Tori smiled and snuggled up as best as she could to Jade and said, "Anytime. I love you."

Jade smiled and kissed Tori on the forehead and said, "Love you too, Vega."


Author's Notes:

Hello! Thank you for joining me on this one shot! I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, feel free to leave a review if you are feeling so kind.

Nothing too much to say about this one, I greatly enjoyed writing it and just had the idea the other night about Jade having to be Tori's care taker and going to Trina for tips on how to do it. I hope you enjoyed it and found it wholesome and humorous at times!