A/N: Jade definitely made a mistake but her feelings got in the way of any logic. Maybe there is someone that can talk some sense into her?

Special thanks to Quitting Time for the retitling of this chapter. The song I originally chose didn't fit as well as this one.

SONG:

"No Doubt About It" was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

It has been two days since Tori left for Europe and the goth had taken a turn for the worse.

She barely slept and she hasn't eaten.

Cat was mad at how she didn't see Tori off at least. But she would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about Jade. This was the most depressed she had ever seen her.

Having Tori away from her looked like half her heart was missing.

Cat didn't want to leave her alone but she needed to go down to the bursar's office and take care of their housing payment. She reluctantly closed the door on Jade and walked down the hall.

"Cat!"

"AH! Whoa!"

Beck was standing before a high-strung Cat, arms stretched out like she was going to use her magic against some enemy.

"Sorry if I scared you," he shrugged while carrying a cup carrier. "How have you been?"

Now that she knew she was in friendly company, she smiled and smacked his chest.

"I'm good."

"Have you heard from Tori?" he asked.

"Yeah, she sent me a text. I think they are in Denmark now."

Beck made a an impressed face.

"Wow, that's cool."

He looked past Cat in the direction of her dorm.

"How's she doing?"

Cat looked back and sighed.

"Not great," she frowned.

"I see," he nodded. "I was thinking of checking up on her."

"Would you mind staying with her at least until I get back?" Cat asked. "It would make me feel better if a friend was nearby."

Beck smiled.

"No sweat. That's kind of the mission."

Cat looked a little confused.

"Mission?"

"I'll explain it if I'm successful," he replied.

"Kay, Kay, I'll be back."

"Bye."

The redhead ran to the elevator and Beck went onward with his hot beverages.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"The fuck?"

Jade rolled over still under the cover.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"Oh, someone's gonna die today," Jade grimaced.

The pale girl marched out of her bedroom, through the living area and opened the door; ready to kick some ass.

"You son of a bi-"

"This how you greet all of your guests?"

Jade was no longer at Defcon 3 but her defenses were still up.

"Yeah, guests. Not intruders!"

"You let me in," he said.

"No I didn't!"

Beck looked down, noticed his feet and slowly crossed the threshold.

"Okay, now I'm in."

"God-fucking-dammit," Jade grumbled.

The Canadian nicely closed the door with his foot, still holding the to-go cups.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I thought maybe we could have one of our famous heart-to-hearts," he smirked. "I brought the fuel."

The goth's nostrils couldn't help but smell the comforting aroma wafting from those styrofoam cups.

"This one is Columbian dark roast," he pointed to the one marked with a star. "But I know you've been getting into Hazelnut so I got that one too. Ladies first."

Jade looked between the two choices and took the Hazelnut.

Beck nodded and took the Columbian cup.

"Still the way I drink it?" she asked.

"We ALL remember, Jade" he teased.

She took a long sip with her eyes closed.

"This is good. Where did you go because I don't recognize the cup."

"Oh," he quickly said rushing his sip. "It's that new woman-owned kosher coffee shop, She-Brew."

"I'll have to tell them they make a mean cup."

Jade indulged in more of her warm beverage.

"Okay, Oliver" she said, leaning against the counter. "You have my attention. So, what brings you here?"

"Well, it occurred to me when we were all gathered at the airport the other day to say bye to Tori, somebody important was missing."

The girl was not amused where this conversation was heading but why else would he be here?

"It wasn't good, Jade" Beck said, putting down his cup. "You should have been there."

Jade slammed down her own cup, a couple of drops shot out onto the counter.

"Don't you think I wanted to be there? But why turn the knife by actually watching her leave?"

Beck squinted his eyes like she was spouting complete nonsense.

"Buuuuut you could have gone with..."

"Oh sure!" Jade smacked down her hand. "Just to be sure that she really did move on, I'd better see it with my own eyes, right?"

Her face fell and she turned away from him.

"Move on?" he asked. "Tori, move on?"

"She's already on her way to becoming this big deal. One day she's gonna look at me and wonder what the fuck am I doing with her?"

Beck slowly walked around Jade to face her again.

"No, I won't allow this."

"Won't allow WHAT?" she demanded through tears.

"You sabotaging yourself!" he replied firmly. "This is the same shit you did when we were dating. You thought every girl was flirting with me or that I was going to leave you; just like that! Or how about all those times we were arguing, and you would go on a weird tangent that maybe you're ugly or untalented."

She turned away from him, covering her ears with her hands.

"Just shut up! SHUT. UP!"

"You work hard, Jade. And your energy draws people in. But you cannot trust happiness. You think everything good in your life is either a lie or will be taken away from you, so why get attached?"

Jade surprised the both of them by slapping Beck.

It stung but he resisted feeling his left cheek.

The look in her eyes were filled with pain and regret. She wanted to apologize but her throat was too choked up to make words.

"If only it were that easy, Jade" he huffed. "But you can't punch that kind of pain away."

Jade began to cry and fall to her knees. Beck knelt down and hugged her.

"Remember when we were going out and how we were always feet away from each other?"

Jade didn't answer.

"I thought you were being possessive but really you were scared. You thought this was all fragile, like it would collapse at any moment. It's why you didn't like being away from me and especially why you didn't like anyone else talking to me. You and Tori were inseparable, so it was easy to keep those feelings at bay. But you can't think she will leave you because one test of your relationship comes along."

"Sorry..." she managed to whisper.

"Despite what some think, you are a good person deep down. You had this icy persona to keep people at arm's length. You pulled back the curtain and let me see the real you. But Tori," he shook his head. "Tori tore it down! Seriously, Jade; I've never seen you as anything approaching giddy. But when you two are together, I see sparks."

He helped her back up to her feet.

"What we had was good. And I was sad it ended. But you and Tori, that's next level. I wouldn't be surprised if one day you guys went all the way."

Jade mildly blushed, eyeing the bedroom.

"Um, well..."

Beck put two and two together and blushed a little himself.

"I was thinking more of a church, flowers, a dress..."

"Oh!" Jade gasped. "Right."

"And-totally not awkward change of subject-have you talked to her since she left?"

Jade bit her lip and shied away from his eyes.

"I take that as a hell no," he said.

"Fuck, Beck! I really fucked things up!"

"In terms of Jade's proudest moments, it's definitely in the bottom five. Right next to scaring that kid on Halloween."

Jade folded her arms, sniffing.

"I bet that brat won't talk to any strangers now, huh?"

"Jade, he was trick or treating!"

She covered her face and started laughing.

"I'm such a mess," she sobbed. "How do I fix this?"

Beck rubbed his chin and smiled.

"I actually had an idea locked and loaded but I wanted to be sure that this was a mistake, and you still want Tori."

Jade stomped her foot.

"Of course, I want Tori!" She then hugged herself. "I always have. Do you think she still wants me?"

"You're one of a kind, Jade. She'd have to be a fool if she thought she could level up. No amount of money, no legions of fans, no gold records is going to change what you mean to her. You know something? I don't come around often because I'm usually catching up with everyone else but I'm also secretly making sure they're all okay."

"Huh?"

Beck led Jade to the couch so they could sit.

"Okay, Andre. He's my buddy but a cute girl can lead him on. I just want to be sure he's not giving away a kidney or anything. Then there's Robbie. Smart guy but a little wet when it comes to street smarts. My biggest fear is he's going to get mugged in broad daylight with that puppet of his crammed in a very uncomfortable place."

"Oh, thanks for the visual" winced Jade.

"The point is I never have to lose sleep on you two. I know there's nothing you can't do because you take care of each other."

Jade smiled.

(Been a while since we did that thing with our mouth. Forgot how good it felt.)

"Alright," she said, looking serious. "You said you have a plan. Let's hear it."

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: I seem to be on a "Beck is a good guy" streak. I haven't done much to antagonize him over the years because I feel there are better stories out there that do so. I like to rock the boat and make him redeemable in the majority of my JORI tales.