Disclamers: 1) I don't own any of theres characters.

2) I think some of this is funny.

:}

Jade was annoyed. After her wonderful date with Tori, her week had gone downhill. She had followed dinner with a beach party and they both had a wonderful time, only for the Sheldon situation to escalate. Jade had sent Sheldon her revised roommate agreement by Wednesday morning, and they had been arguing and negotiating the rest of the week. She had resorted to her fathers bosses lawyers, again, and Sheldon countered with the schools lawyers. That lasted until the two lawyers talked, all of one phone call. So here they were on a Friday afternoon, sitting in the Human Resources office with Lenard, like school children who couldn't settle their differences and so had to be called into the office to make peace. Mrs. Jeanine Davis was now playing the role of the authority figure in this little squabble while, much to Jade dismay, her father was there watching the drama unfold.

Mrs. Davis looked far less than happy in her current role. "Let me see if I understand the situation. Doctor Hofstadter is Doctor Cooper's roommate. But since Doctor Hofstadter is going away for a few months," to Lenard "Congratulations on being selected for Doctor Hawkings team, by the way." Back to the room in general. "So Doctor West is offering to fill in part time to help with transport and keep Doctor Cooper from going completely crazy. Doctor Hofstadter's words, not mine" She said the last part straight to Sheldon, then paused to look around. Sheldon looked a bit miffed, and Jade so wanted to say 'too late.' Then, taking a deep breath and relying on her years of experience dealing with these wackjobs, Mrs. Davis continued in a calm voice. "Doctor Cooper has an informal roommate's agreement, DON'T INTERUPT ME, Doctor Cooper." The preemptive statement stopped Sheldon just before he stated his objection. Mrs. Davis's glare was intimidating, almost equal to Jades. "Doctor West asked a lawyer to help make sure the contract wasn't unfair to her needs, thus making it a lot less informal, and in retaliation Doctor Cooper asked university lawyers to represent his interests. Now the whole thing has been dumped on my lap, as if my life wasn't crazy enough. Thank you Doctor Gablehauser for the extra work." She looked to see that everyone was caught up. "Now, I looked over every copy of the agreement, and I've made some modifications to one that I feel supports everyone's best interests. Would you all please read over the document."

They all started, Jade reading on her phone, while Lenard and Sheldon were using document readers, and Mr. West had a hard copy. Several minutes passed as they reviewed the new document. Mrs. Davis used the time to reflect on this situation. A contract for temporary roommates seemed particularly crazy, and she would have just ignored the whole thing, except it was a feud between two of the physics departments bigger names. Both child prodigies (Current and former) brought extra funding and prestige to the school, and it was decided that this problem needed to be handled quickly before it escalated and Doctor Wests talents for revenge were unleashed. Jeanine had no desire to have the police in here after the goth unleashed some form of revenge that might leave the area unlivable for the next thousand years. Thus she had cut down the agreement to just the most pertinent points.

"Mrs. Davis, I must object. I see multiple clauses I absolutely need removed from this document." Sheldon started. He didn't get to continue.

"Most wouldn't make a difference. Doctor Cooper, I've kept in you schedule, with minimal modifications to reflect that Doctor West will be living there part time, as well as her age and gender. I also included a no horror film reenactment clause, but only at the recommendations of one Vice Principal Dickers from Hollywood Arts. I see no reason for most of the removed provisions." Mrs. Davis said. Mr. West didn't react at all.

"Besides, the time travel one is whack. It's been in your contract for what, your last several roommate's? You're obviously not gonna do it. Why do I need to tell you if I do." Jade said.

Mrs. Davis shook her head. Had her life really come to this, playing referee to faculty who were acting like children. A small part of her hoped Jade never figured out time travel, sense the girl would definitely abuse it. "Look. This contract has the full support of the university. It guarantees, among other things, that neither of you would enter the bedroom of the other unless specifically asked to. I think it's the best we'll ever get, and in addition to solving your problems, it gets you out of my office. Any questions?" The whole thing was frustrating.

"What about the girlfriend clause. She has a girlfriend, and could well be cohabitation the whole time." Sheldon stated. Jade glanced back at her father, but he didn't react at all.

"Tori and I have only been on a couple of dates. I see no reason for her to have to sign that stupid agreement. I'll just make sure she respects you space and your schedule. Okay?" Jade shot back quickly, still glancing at her father.

"But she's a celebrity. I don't want any of that Hollywood party drama in my apartment." Sheldon said.

"She's a what?" Mrs. Davis asked.

"Tori sang the opening number at the Platinum Music Awards, and is going to be recording her first album soon." Jade said with a strange mix of pride and nervousness. Her father wasn't reacting. 'Either he doesn't care, which would not surprise me, or he's going to let me have it in private.' Jade was worried about his total lack of reaction. She wished her mother was there instead.

"Tori Vega?" Mrs. Davis asked. "My kids loved her song." Looking around the room. "Like you've never gone gaga over a celebrity. But who it is shouldn't matter. Jade has her rights, and so do you. Sign the contract please." She smiled, hoping that this would be the end of the whole issue. Mr. Dickers had sent her Jades folder, complete with everything she was suspected of but they couldn't prove. It was enough to give the whole human resources department nightmares. However, the girl seemed to be on her best behavior here, and they wanted that to continue. Besides, Jade had only asked for a couple of things that had to be removed. It may seem harmless, but letting one or both of her brothers stay in Sheldon's room while Doctor Cooper was out was still an invasion of privacy. They could stay on the couch, but only after she first informed Sheldon and made sure it was okay.

All four parties, Lenard, Sheldon, Jade and Her Father (since Jade was still a minor), signed the contract. Jade was still surprised her father took the time off from work to be here. She had expected her mother, or possibly her mothers promised appearance then a phoned in excuse. But her father was here. He said it was about her career, so of course he made the time. During the thirty minutes required to get everyone to read and sign the contract, Jades colleagues got a good idea of his personality. Lenard would later say it was reminiscent of his mothers, but without the scientific accomplishments. Sheldon would state how he couldn't understand how anyone could be so distant and judgmental, missing the Irony. He was right about one thing, Jades father didn't have even a basic formula for how he judged her. He just held everything her mother had done before Jades birth against her, and begrudgingly admitted to being her father only after the courts had proven he was.

Only Mrs. Davis knew how proud he was of everything Jade had accomplished, including her plays and her handling of the End of Year showcase. But then again, she had talked to his boss to arrange the meeting, and found out how often he talked about her to his work related friends. It made sense to her, these were the people he was used to unwinding with, who could see the real him under his armor, and see just how happy he was with Jades success. She also guessed he was totally unaware how damaged Jade was. The man was results oriented, and caught up in his own beliefs about how to raise children. Apparently he'd missed the first few years of her life, where he would be allowed to be the fun dad, and jumped in as the distant disciplinarian who was always at work or unwinding with his friends. Mrs. Davis couldn't judge him, only do her job and wonder if Jade would ever know the real man behind the image her father maintained. She also decided that Jade would never work on any military contracts. The girl wasn't disciplined enough not to misuse the data.

After the signing, Jade didn't feel less stressed. She needed to talk to her father. She had been outed, sorta, and needed to do some damage control before word spread.

"Dad, can we talk. I think I need to explain something." Jade started.

He looked her in the eye, again giving the impression that he was disappointed. "My boss is gay. You know that. He's always been there for this family, helping us find homes at good prices, and helping us maintain a nice standard of living that we could not otherwise afford. After working for him practically your entire life, I cannot believe you'd think I would think any less of you for being gay. I just want to know, lesbian or bisexual? Or should we just ignore labels right now?" He was staring at her, in that cold, calculating way that slowly ate away at Jades resolve. He showed no emotion, no weakness, just stating facts.

Jade answered carefully, thinking about her words before saying anything."I'm definitely bi, if my recent attractions are any hint. I mean, I still love Beck, I'm just not in love with him."

"When do I get to meet this Tori?" He said, crossing his arms and studying his daughter. Her colleagues had given her space, abandoning her to this conversation with her father.

"You've met. She helped me put on that play. You know, 'Well wishes'. The one you attended." Jade said.

"Oh, her. I still expect to properly meet her, and her family." He said. "Arrange it. Maybe next Friday, on your birthday." With that he walked away, leaving her to figure out how she would arrange everything with such short notice. The obvious answer was for Jade to ask the Vega's to her party, and have it at her mothers place. Her father would be there too. 'Nice of him to show up for one of my birthdays.' She stood there, alone in the hall just outside the human resources office, sorting out her feelings and her desires. Action was required. Jade left, retrieving her car.

Jade drove the police station, determined to talk to her biggest ally in the Vega family, reviewing in her mind what she was going to say. 'What did I tell Becks parents.' Realization hit. ' I didn't, did I. He never met Becks parents. He never asked to meet Becks parents. What the Holly chiz is going on here.' Jade continued to review every interaction with her father since she was raped. He had never shown this much interest in any of her friends. If it wasn't about college or work, he just didn't seem to care. 'And yet here he is, asking to meet her family. What, does he think I'm gonna marry her too?' Jade pondered this new thought for an unknown amount of time, only to be reminded where she was when a uniformed police officer knocked on her window. She looked around, realizing she was parked outside the police station. Quickly rolling down her window, "Can I help you officer?"

"My name's Officer Stevens. I was just concerned. You've been sitting in your car twenty minutes, and I wanted to make sure you were all right." He said. He was medium height, solid build, with close cropped brown hair and a mustache.

"I'm fine. I was just lost in thought." She replied.

"Are you sure your fine? I mean, a lot of victims of various crimes are embarrassed to report it. Many blame themselves. You'd hardly be the first person I've helped into the precinct who was having second thoughts." he said, sounding calm and friendly. Jade saw through the facade. While everything he said was true, there was something more. Jade decided she didn't want to pry, since he probably wouldn't tell her anyways. Still, he was being friendly and helpful, and as long as she wasn't a threat, would stay that way.

'This is not the police I'm used to' Jade thought. "No, I'm here to talk to Detective David Vega, but it's not about a crime." Jade said, adding quickly "I'm a friend of his daughter, Tori.".

"No problem. I'll escort you in." He offered. Jade realized she could leave, or go in with the officer. She started out of her car, only to stop and remove her scissors. There would be a metal detector on her way in, and she didn't feel like getting arrested. Officer Stevens waited patiently for her to be ready, then walked her in through the front door. He used his ID badge to get them past the security door, and showed her to the elevators. He then stayed with her the whole ride up to the fifth floor, where Detective Vega's office was. He made lite conversation as the went, talking about Tori and how the whole precinct watched her perform on the Chris Burm show.

As he walked her into the right department, he stopped to talk to the unit secretary. "Tell lieutenant Vega that there's a Jade West to see him." As soon as the words left his mouth, the whole department reacted. The room grew quiet, and as officer Stevens was leaving, and Jade was looking at a room of maybe twenty people, all staring at her. She remembered David mentioning how she was on the watch list. This was surprisingly uncomfortable.

'Wait, lieutenant?' she thought, and then the door to an office opened and David Vega walked out.

"Jade, to what do I owe this surprise visit?" he asked.

"Can we talk in your office. This whole thing is kinda freaky." Jade replied, pointing around to the office. She wanted away from the curious eyes judging her. He showed her into his office, closing the door.

"You like it?" he said, obviously proud. "They only approved the funding in the last two months. We have a school outreach department now. We do all kinds of things, but it's mostly to make dealing with school based crimes easier. I'm in charge of this precincts outreach program." He then paused, smiling, to study Jade. "I hope that your not just here to congratulate me on my vision coming to life." Jade didn't see anything special about this unit, but then she knew it wasn't physical. It was in the training and the contacts. Now school based crimes would be handled more quickly and professionally.

"Yea, congratulations. Look, I should've called, but this is kinda out of the blue and I freaked. My dad wants to meet you. I mean, all of you. He wants to get to know Tori, and see where she comes from and you can figure that much out on your own." Jade stammered nervously. "It's just the first time he's ever asked to meet my dates family. Heck, I was with Beck for almost a year before they met, and it was almost an accident. So anyways, You are all invited to my birthday next Friday. I'll send a mass text with the deets. I mean details." Jade inhaled, feeling like she had been rambling for a while.

"Okay, I suppose we can make it. And FYI, I'm up to date on the slang." David said. "So on a scale of one to ten, you're how freaked?"

"This is a seven. I've had worse. In the last month. Hell, I think the last month's been averaging a seven when it comes to freaked out. It's like everything's changing, and while some of it's gonna be so good, I'm scared because I expect it to be so much worse than I'm used to." Jade admitted.

"Wanting to meet the family, kinda sounds like he thinks this could last. That must be the hardest part. Being told by others that this relationship will last while that one will fail." He was smiling, trying to make this as comfortable as possible. It occurred to Jade that his family hadn't been interested enough in his job to ask what was happening. She wondered if they knew about his promotion.

"Is that Gary guy still you're partner?" She asked.

"In a way. He's in my department, but as of last Monday he gets a new partner and I'm in charge." David was practically glowing. Jade felt happy for him.

"So did anyone know about this whole" Gesturing around, "Thing?" Jade asked.

"Nope. I try to stay involved in my daughters lives, their school work and careers. I understand that to them I'm just a cop. It's never been easy to explain what I do. When I made the whole school outreach a major part of our anti-gang activities, and then expanded it to include a lot of crime prevention, my children never had a clue. They don't even know about the police athletic leagues. We help coordinate the games too." He looked a little sad. Jade decided to let him tell her everything about his job. By the time she left, she was far beyond respect. He was working and coordinating with over a dozen different programs to help at risk youths stay out of gangs, off drugs, and whatever else they could do to help the kids succeed. David Vega was helping prevent violent crimes. She resolved that his children would understand just what he did.

'Maybe I'll write a movie about this chiz. I bet they'd make it, at least as a made for TV type thing for an aging Hispanic actor who wants another starring role.' Jade thought. She smiled at how life always gives her inspiration.

Jade had to rush home to squeeze in a shower and get dressed before picking up Tori and racing back to Sheldon's place for Leonard's going away party. She had the need to take care of some business tonight. 'So much to do. I guess it's a working party.' She smiled at the thought.

Tori was ready by the time Jade got there. They both had dressed casually, since it was a friendly party. A quick kiss and they were on their way.

"Tori, I was wondering, what's new with your family?" Jade asked.

"Not much. Gary and Dad are no longer partners. Not sure why. Mom says it's normal to break up pairs periodically. Besides, Dad's gonna try for sergeant, like Gary. I guess they wanted to spread the rank." Tori said.

"I stopped by your fathers precinct today, just to congratulate him on making lieutenant. I got to see his new department. School outreach has grown so much and now has twenty dedicated detectives working to liaison with every school in the LA basin. Over a dozen different programs are now being coordinated through his office. You should be proud." Jade kept her voice even. She had to admit she probably had as much interest in her fathers work place, and so should give her girlfriend a break. Still, the part of Jade that didn't forgive lightly chose to inform Tori in the harshest way she would let herself. No yelling, just let the girl know that Jade was up to date when she wasn't.

"Wait, what? Lieutenant? Does that mean he'll be home more often?" Tori asked. They both knew she wasn't trying to be selfish, but Jade could understand where the Latina was coming from. As close as the Vega's were, Tori had complained of a distance in the family. Holly and David seemed to be growing apart, and Gary seemed to be flirting with Holly. It was a recipe for disaster.

"Yea. The department was officially opened as of Monday, but you know how busy I get. I couldn't tear myself away until today. You should let him know how proud you are of him. He's a hell of a lot more than just a cop. And Tori." Jade started.

Tori was feeling ashamed. Something this big was happening to her father, and she had no idea. She wondered if her mother knew. She felt worse because her girlfriend was keeping tabs, but neither her nor Trina had bothered. Until this summer, he was just a cop. He could have been a uniformed police officer, except he wore plain cloths and thus had to be a detective of some sort. Or maybe he kept his uniform at the station. Tori had no idea, and had never really wanted to know. It was just never a big part of their lives. Tori was worried that she would bring the party down. She also knew Jade was wazzed, otherwise she would have let Tori know in a nicer way.

"What Jade. Is he up for commissioner?" Tori asked, feeling frustrated. Why hadn't Jade told her earlier. This could quickly become a problem, if Jade was withholding news from her to punish her for not being a good daughter.

"I really only found out today. I don't think they've made an announcement about it yet. I just needed to talk to your dad, and chose to go in person because I needed the drive. I didn't mean to make you feel like chiz. It's just janked up that we get so caught up in our own lives that we don't even know what our own parents do." Jade vented.

"What does your father do?" Tori asked.

"Property management. He manages an office that manages the multiple business interests my dads boss has, mostly handling the day to day chiz that needs to get done. That includes the junk yard we used, a couple of restaurants and fast food places, as well as a business buying distressed properties and re-selling them closer to actual value. My dad also is responsible for maintaining the contracts with various rentals and other business agreements, so he's always talking to the law firm that represents the company and his boss." Jade just spouted. "My mother works selling the Katey May line of cosmetics. Her client list is a lot of people who do business with my dads boss."

Tori was embarrassed. Jade knew more about her parents work than Tori did about her own. She knew her mother worked, but had odd hours. She knew her father worked as a cop, and that their house in the Hollywood hills was paid for. She just never asked where the money came from. Despite her personal lack of funds, her family never seemed to be broke. Whatever her mother did, it seemed to help bring in the bucks. She resolved to ask.

"Do you, by any chance, know what my mother does?" Tori asked Jade sheepishly.

"Sorry, no. I'll ask next chance I get. You should consider asking too. It's be nice for you to get to know them. Trust me, you've got a great family." Jade smiled as she spoke.

They arrived at the party, and both agreed no drinking. They didn't want Jade Colleagues getting in trouble for the delinquency of minors. Also, Sheldon would be judging them. She wanted to have Tori here, and she needed Sheldon on board to avoid that lengthy homicide conviction. She would rather be cuddling with her girlfriend.

Jade and Tori had fun in the party, but there was something on Jades mind and Tori was going to find out. Jade needed to drive and see her father, the argument fell flat. Still, there wasn't much time at the goodby party. Wishing Lenard a safe and successful trip morphed into comforting Raj about his girlfriend dumping him, while keeping Jade from carrying out her offer to return Howard to space if he didn't stop comparing it to everything. Then came the reality that Jade was the only sober licensed driver, so they shuttled Howard and Bernadette home, then did the same for Raj and finally Stuart.

As Jade was dropping Tori off at home, just after the goodnight kiss, Jade suddenly stopped, looking nervous, and asked Tori a question.

"Um, Tori, do you love me?".

"You know I do." Tori replied.

"Good. My father wants to meet your parents."

Tori thought 'Damn! This chiz just got real.'

:}

Reviews are welcome. Just no Bedroom Pictures.