Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious, we'd have more Jori...

A/N: I don't know why, but Paramore and A7X decided to be every song in my 'randomized' playlist, so...this chapter's kinda off...But we're back to Jade's POV. Maybe it's because she's messed up...

Enjoy.

Chapter 13

He's dead.

I can't shake the image of the man I had wanted to say something, anything, to me, his throat…his eyes…his face…

My eyes snap open and I can't stop the tears as I roll over to face the other person in the bed. But it isn't Tori, the hair's too red and…What's Cat doing here? I don't remember leaving Tori's bed, let alone anything that involved Cat. I realize Cat's asleep, and her arm is around my waist, but it feels different than Vega's. Where the hell did Vega go? I sit up and search the room through tears, taking note of the familiar normalcy of the room. I'm still in Tori's room.

Cat mumbles something in her sleep, but I'm not paying attention, sliding out of bed and heading down the stairs. It's weird, the rest of the house seems to be built like Cat's, and I find Cat's brother sitting on the couch with Tori in the living room. My heart stops when I see his arm sneak around her shoulders and he pulls her in for a kiss, which she allows. "Tori, what are you doing?" I whisper.

She hears it and turns to face me. "What, did your girlfriend kick you out of her bed again?" Wait, girlfriend? Cat's not my…Tori's my girlfriend. She laughs and cozies up to Cat's brother, turning away from me. What the fuck is going on? I touch Tori's shoulder and the entire room fades into a dark alley. Tori's standing a few feet away from me, her arms shredded up by scissors, and I think about that night when she came back and saved me.

"Tori, are you alright?" But she doesn't answer. She stares at me, confusion and fear etched on her face, and she looks around, as though she doesn't know where she is. There's someone running toward us, but the alley is so dark that I can't see anything except the girl in front of me, and I stand in front of her, in case someone is going to try and hurt her. When he comes closer, I realize it's Andre, and I frown. "Andre? What are you doing here?"

He doesn't speak, but when his hand swings forward and a blade slices across my throat, I scream. "Jade! Jade, wake up!" My eyes open and I'm staring up into Tori Vega's brown eyes, in her bedroom, in her bed. It was all a fucking dream. But it felt so real. She kisses me, holding me close, and she's muttering things into my hair. I'm not paying any attention to that, though. I'm just glad that she's here and that none of it is real. But what did it mean? "Are you alright, Jade? You were thrashing around in your sleep like something was going on, and then you screamed."

I nod and sit up, trying to piece together the dream. I want to know what it means, but I can't tell Tori. She would worry about it and then she'd ask me a bunch of questions. I can't even pull myself together to tell her that my father died. I wonder if anyone else has told her yet. "I just…it was just a bad dream. I think I've watched way too many horror movies in my life," I lie.

She seems to accept it, nodding in agreement. "I think you have too. Are you…" She frowns. "How are you feeling?" About yesterday…I know it's in her question. Does she know? "You were pretty shaken up or something, Jade, and I don't know…I just…I don't want to cross any lines and make you think that I'm doing it on purpose. No one will tell me what happened, and I don't want to bother you about it because you still seem pretty torn up about it. Beck said you would be for a while. Is there anything I can do?"

And she speaks in that uncertain, helpful way that she always has when she wants to be there for someone. I used to hate it, but now…it sort of makes me feel better. I sigh. "Tori, look, the day before yesterday…my father…" She frowns, but I know she gets it. Something happened to my father. I fight back the tears. "I can't…I can't talk about it right now."

She nods and pulls me closer to her, my head buried in her chest, and murmurs into my hair. "Jade, why can't you stay here? Why are they making you live with Cat?" I shrug. Honestly, I don't know, but I think it has something to do with the fact that Tori and I are dating, and Cat's my best friend. What if something happened and Tori and I were to break up? That would be awkward as hell, living under the same roof.

Besides, and it's not that I don't enjoy Tori's company because I do, it's just that I do need a break from her and I barely hang out with Cat anymore. Aside from the girl driving me completely mad with her craziness…That dream was really weird. I don't know why I keep thinking about it, but seriously…what could it possibly mean?

I try to push it away. Maybe I'm just really messed up after what happened. I mean, I cried for hours, which is something I never do and in front of Tori. I've been vulnerable and Tori hasn't tried to hurt me at all, which is something I thought would have happened by now. She's had plenty of chances to ask what happened, to badger me with questions and demand that I tell her what's wrong with me, but she's been almost careful, concerned, and I don't know why. After all I've ever done to her in the past, she isn't like everyone else.

I guess the only reason Cat and Beck haven't asked is because they already know, but they've also been checking in periodically, or I assume they have. I know Beck called earlier, but I couldn't talk to him, not while I'm like this. I slip one hand under Tori's shirt to rest against her warm skin, finding comfort there. When she doesn't comment or complain, I kiss her neck and drift back to sleep.

BREAK

I wake up later to find the bed empty, and for a full five seconds I panic, until I hear Tori's voice on the other side of her bedroom door. From what I can hear, she's talking to Beck, explaining that I'm asleep, and that I'm fine. I wonder if Cat's called as many times as Beck has, or if they're together and talking to Vega at the same time. I hear her say goodbye before the bedroom door opens and she steps into the room, her eyes meeting mine.

"You haven't been awake long, have you?" And she has that genuine worry written all over her face. Under normal circumstances it would be cute, but this isn't the time to be thinking about how cute my girlfriend is or anything else that would lead to anything. I shake my head, and she sighs, as if she was afraid of leaving me alone for so long while I'm awake. "That was Beck. He just wondered how you were doing, so I told him you were asleep. I was gone maybe five minutes."

I nod and force a small smile. "It's okay, Vega, you don't have to be so damn worried about me. I'll be fine." She frowns but nods anyway. That means Beck must have told her not to leave me alone. God, when is that boy going to get it through his head that I'm not going to do anything stupid? Maybe I can try to calm her down. "Hey, Vega, come here…" She looks at me with uncertainty. "Just come here, Tori…"

She hesitates, but soon she's walking around the bed to my side, and in one movement, I pull her down onto the bed and kiss her. "Jade…" What is she so afraid of? I'm not trying to do anything, I just want her to be close to me so she'll stop worrying.

There's a knock on the bedroom door before it opens. I don't care who it is. I'm in the middle of something. Unfortunately, Trina doesn't seem to think it's all that important. "God, would you two get a room…Never mind. Tori, can I borrow that shirt that you wore a few weeks ago?" Tori stares at her, while I glare, and the older Vega girl rolls her eyes and backs out of the room. "Fine, you two get back to your little…whatever you want to call it."

Sometimes I wonder if anyone would care if I crack her skull with a lead pipe and drop her body in the ocean…