The doorbell rang echoing throughout the apartment causing the two technicians to jump. Ryder sprang up and nearly tripped over his own two feet to answer it. He swung open the door, a smirk in place.

"Oh...hi, Ryder." Sherry said, unable to keep the annoyance out of her tone.

"Hey, Sherry, how's it going?" He asked pleasantly. She rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore him and then pushed passed him all the same. She grinned when she André and hopped into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and giggled slightly.

"God, it's freezing outsi-"

He cut her off with a kiss. Ryder chuckled quietly as he walked around them and took his seat on the other side of the computer.

"Hot." He mumbled, looking away from them. Sherry pulled away to glare at him, André cleared his throat.

"You find this place, okay?" He asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah." She answered, André twirled the chair back around so that they were facing the computer. André held out his beer to her but she made a face.

"You don't have anything good?" She said in a disapproving tone. André smirked at her.

"Well, haven't raided the kitchen yet. Ryder?" He said, looking to his coworker, Ryder hopped up immediately.

"No, no. I'll get it myself." Sherry said climbing out of her boyfriend's lap and heading toward the kitchen. Ryder slowly took his seat again.

"Sherry hates me, I told you. Never had much luck with getting women like me, it's easier just getting them to sleep with me." Ryder said with a casual shrug. André chuckled and shook his head.

"Maybe if you'd stop stealing their underwear." The darker man suggested playfully. Ryder breathed out through his nose in amusement.

"There's more." He murmured after awhile, scooting closer to André so that they could talk quietly.

"No." André whispered shaking his head.

"Yes."

"No."

"Dude! Who else am I going to talk to about this?"

"Stop it, I told you I didn't want to hear anymore." André hissed, his voice just below a whisper. Sherry appeared then, strutting into the bedroom with two glasses of red wine.

"This chick gots the good stuff." She said, grinning as she handed André one of the glasses. She looked to Ryder then frowning slightly.

"Oh...you didn't want any, did you?" She asked him.

"Oh, uh, no. That's okay." He said, fidgeting awkwardly. Sherry gave him a fake smile then turned to André, sitting back in his lap. She raised her glass to him and waited for to do the same.

"Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders." She said, they clinked their drinks together and then took separate sips. Sherry hummed in content at the taste.

"That's Nietzsche, by the way. I found it in my Bartlett's." She said, placing a soft kiss on André's cheek. He smiled at her then set his cup down and returned to his work.

"What's a Bartlett's?" Ryder asked, suddenly intrigued.

"It's a quote book, Ryder." André mumbled his answer. Sherry smiled and cuddled more into André, she crossed her legs accidentally hitting the cooler. The beer bottles rattled but other than that no damage was done. She chortled, cover her mouth with her free hand.

"You can't wake her up, can you?" She asked looking at Jade's unconscious body. Ryder chuckled.

"No, you can't wake her up." He answered.

I fought the smile that was trying to sneak it's way on to my face. Tori kept pressing soft kisses on my neck, working her way up to my jaw.

"Wakey Wakey, Jadey." She said in a sing-songy voice. I frowned at the nickname but didn't open my eyes.

"Coffee." I mumbled. I heard Tori sigh and then the wonderful smell of coffee reached my nostrils. I smiled happily and then opened my eyes grabbed the cup. I sat up in bed so that I could drink it, Tori was just laying next to me staring at with her head propped up by her elbow. Out of nowhere she leaned over and kissed my temple.

"I love you." She whispered against my head. I looked at her suspiciously as I set my now empty mug down on the table next to the bed.

"What did you do?" I questioned. I felt her smile and then snake her arms around me. She moved her body down so that could put her face in my neck.

"I have to do something for me to tell you I love you?" She retorted. I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"No, but that's stereotypes for you." I said.

"Well, I haven't done anything. I just felt like I haven't said that in awhile." She mumbled. I chuckled quietly.

"You said it yesterday." I pointed out, looking down at her. She opened her eyes and squinted at me, I was greeted with my favorite shade of brown.

"It should be said everyday. Speaking of which, you haven't said it in awhile." She said quietly, putting emphasis on "you". I shrugged.

"I figured I didn't need to, you should already know." I answered. She frowned and sat up.

"Well, yeah but it's nice to hear it." She argued. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, I laid back down and pulled the covers over my head.

"We're not going to argue about this." I told her.

"It's not always easy knowing how you feel, y'know? You don't talk to me about your feelings anymore. We're growing apart, Jade, I can feel it." She said yanking back the blanket so that I had to look at her.

"Oh my god, Vega! Just because I don't say I love you all the freaking time like you, doesn't mean that we're growing apart." I hissed at her. Her eyes were glaring at me now.

"Why can't you just say it? It's not that hard, I love you Jade. See? I can say it, why can't you?" She demanded.

"Because I haven't really been feeling like it lately!" I yelled at her, my temper reaching its limit. She's going to take it the wrong way.

"Oh." She said quietly. She didn't look at me anymore, just crossed her arms over her chest and stared ahead of us. I sighed.

"I didn't mean it like that-" I tried but she shimmered and then faded away. I swore silently when I noticed that I wasn't in my bedroom anymore, but instead outside a fancy looking restaurant. I looked in through the clear windows to see Tori seated alone at white clothed table. She kept checking the time on her phone with a disappointed expression. I went to the door then, almost too anxious to go in. I just knew she was going to lecture me again. But because I'm not a little bitch, I sucked up my nerves and waltzed in through the door confidently. I strutted passed the host who seemed to glare at me as I went. I didn't apologize for my tardiness as I took the seat across from Tori.

"Hi." I said to her, picking up the menu and examining it. A waiter started to pass us but I quickly got his attention, I closed the menu and then handed it to him.

"I'll take a medium rare steak with mashed potatoes and a scotch on the rocks," I paused and looked at Tori, who was outright glaring at me.

"Did you already order?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow at her. She took a deep calming breath and then turned to our waiter.

"Cancel the scotch and bring her a water instead. I'll have an iced tea and a Caesar salad." She said handing her menu to him. My jaw dropped as I gaped at her, I snapped it shut real quick then turned to the waiter.

"Don't you dare cancel that scotch!-"

"Ignore her, late people don't get to order the kind of drink they want." She said throwing a glare at me that dared me to say something. The waiter tried his best not to smile in amusement but I could see the corners of his lips twitch. He simply nodded and then made his way back toward the kitchen. I turned my head to the woman in front of me with an obvious death wish.

"First of all, how fucking dare you-"

"No, how fucking dare you, Jade!" She hissed, leaning over the table so that she could lecture me quietly. I stared at her in stunned silence.

"You don't get to be two hours late for our anniversary dinner and then act like a bitch. If anybody has a right to act like a bitch it should be me. You're not ordering alcohol, you're going to sit right there and apologize to me for making me wait. And then you're going ask me how my day was." She hissed. She flipped her hair and then sat back in her seat, looking at me expectantly. I hide my amusement well, as I straightened my shoulders and regarded her curiously. This was one of the reasons I loved her, she didn't take my shit.

"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, there was a line at the-"

"Ah-bub-buh! This isn't about you, ask me about my day." Tori interrupted. I had to sigh so that I wouldn't smile.

"How was your day, Tori?" I asked, dragging out her name in a way I knew would get on her nerves. She ignored that and jumped right into a full blown story about how horrible her day was.

"And then I had to sit here in this dress waiting for my asshole of a girlfriend for two hours, and she did finally get here she acted like a bitch." She finished, glaring at me.

"Well," I drawled letting my eyes drag up and down her figure. She was wearing a fit black dress that cut off mid-thigh, giving me a nice view of those beautiful tan legs.

"You look gorgeous." I murmured, making sure my voice dropped to a seductive level. She blushed and finally let a smile grace her face.

"I hate you." She mumbled looking at me with a forced glare.

"Well that's unfortunate. Because I love you." I said smiling widely at her, then pushing a velvety rectangular box across the table in her direction. She grinned as she picked it up. Opening it, her eyes brightened and her smile widened. Delicately, she picked up the sparkling two carat diamond necklace and fastened it around her neck. There was a little silver music note charm on it that matched with the rest of the necklace. It took me quite some time to find it.

"Jade..." She breathed, touching it fondly.

"That's why I was late." I said simply, there were tears in her eyes as she looked at me from across the table.

"Jade, this is just wow I can't believe..." I frowned as her voice was drowned out by a sudden loud beeping. Like someone was dialing a number in a phone up at the ceiling but nothing was there.

"Hey, songbird!"

"Oh, Ryder, it's you. Why...why're you calling from an unknown number?"

That voice was back again and it seemed to be talking to Tori but she her voice was faint, like they were talking on a phone. I shot the Tori that was in front of me an alarmed look, but she seemed more interested in the food that arrived out of nowhere.

"You sound upset, are you crying? What's wrong?"

"I don't know...I just feel so confused right now."

"Why're you confused, baby? Everything's fine."

At this point I was already up and out of my seat, looking for this goddamned voice that thought it was okay to call my Tori "baby". All of a sudden I was in Virtuoso's watching Tori and some guy kiss again. He looked so familiar, I swear I've seen him before. I turned back around in the direction that I came but Tori was gone and so was the restaurant.

"I just...I feel like I'm disappearing." Ryder listened to Tori over the phone, his brow creasing in concern.

"Oh, I'm sorry, baby." He said in a soothing voice, hoping it would calm her. Her heard her let out a long sigh.

"Can you come over? I need to feel real, I need someone to tell me that I exist." She asked. He looked back at André who was engrossed in the task at hand.

"There's another one gone." The darker man mumbled. Sherry had disappeared into the kitchen in search of food. Ryder pulled his face away from the phone and covered the speaker with his hand.

"André, do you mind if I leave for a bit? My girlfriend is really upset." Ryder said, his coworker looked up at him frowning.

"Ryder, we're in the middle of erasing this poor woman's-"

"Let him go, babe, I can help! How hard could it be?" Sherry said around a mouthful of chips, she walked into the bedroom.

"See? She hates me, she wants me to go." Ryder reasoned with his friend. André grinned at him, the idea of him and Sherry being alone now in the front of his mind.

"Go." André said finally, nodding with a greedy look in his eyes.

Ryder returned his grin and then put the phone back up to his ear.

"Hey, songbird, I'll be over in a little bit." He said into the speaker.

"Hurry please." Tori pleaded desperately.

So, the italics are Jade's memories. And the bold italics are the people speaking in the conscious world, because y'know Jade is asleep. I thought it was pretty self explanatory but some of you had trouble. Also, I'll explain in the next chapter why Jade calls Tori "songbird" spoiler alert it's because she sings 😛