Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
You promised me forever.
Chapter 13 – Picking up the pieces
No One's Pov
We start this chapter right at the point where Jade and Natalie are talking. Tori is eavesdropping nearby.
"Almost finished with this film, thank god." Said Jade.
"Yeah," Said Natalie.
"Thanks for agreeing to be in my film. You've been a great help. Not to mention." Jade started to say before Natalie cut her off.
"Ohhh. Before I forget. Here are the apartment keys so you can get stuff moved right away."
"Thanks. It's a real nice place."
"Yeah it is, you've seen it. 2 bedrooms, nice kitchen, and a balcony where you can see the ocean."
"You've been living there about 3 months so far right?" Jade asked.
"Yes. Great place, you'll love living there."
Note: A this point Tori ran out and did not hear the rest of the conversation.
"So I'll bet you're excited to move in with your boyfriend. He's like stockbroker or something right?"
"Yea he just got a job last month, at one of these big trading houses in New York City. I'm from New Hampshire anyway. So not only will I be living with him; I'll be much closer to my family." Natalie said.
"Sounds great. I'm happy for you."
"I want to thank you for subletting my apartment. Now I can move out of there now, instead of having to wait for my lease to expire."
Jade smiled. "I should thank you. I've been working too hard, my mom was right. So to make it up a bit, I'm getting a bigger place for us. For Tori, I'm going to turn the second bedroom into a little music room/recording studio for her."
"Oh my god, She'll love that." Natalie said rather happily.
"She deserves that. She deserves a lot." Jade said her voice filling with regret.
About 25 minutes, later Jade was walking around the studio looking for one of the lighting guys, when she ran into Tim.
"Hey Jade" Tim said as he walked past.
"Yes Tim, What do you need?" Jade said.
"Did your girlfriend find you?"
Jade suddenly looked confused. "Tori was here? When?"
"She came here maybe 20-25 minutes ago, she was looking for you. Funny thing is, that she ran out of her only a few minutes later. She looked kind of upset."
Jade's instincts suddenly told her something was very wrong. As she ran to where her purse and phone was, Jade thought what might possibly upset her. As she reached her phone, Jade suddenly had a terrible thought.
"If she heard me talking about moving into Natalies place, she might think I'm….Oh god"
Jade reached her purse and saw there was a voice mail from a missed call, 5 minutes ago.
A terrible fear suddenly swelled up in Jade, as she hit the play on the voice mail.
As the message played, Jade could hear Tori's voice. She sounded horribly upset, almost despondent.
"Jade, I cant' believe you're leaving me, moving in with her. I loved you. I supported you. You were my life. First my singing career is gone then you're gone. I can't do this anymore. I'm home now. It's painless, don't even have to leave my car. Fuck you Jade."
Jade suddenly felt like she had been punched in the stomach.
"FUCK!" Was all she said, she realized Tori was about to do.
Jades hands began to tremble, as she began to panic. Absolute terror suddenly surged through every fiber of her being.
"Tori's killing hers…" Jade couldn't even get herself to finish the sentence.
She tried to think. "Home, Car, painless" Were the words her panic stricken mind homed in on.
The words exhaust and garage suddenly snapped into her head. She quickly realized it couldn't be their apartment. It had no garage and they both parked on the street.
"She's at her parent's house." Jade suddenly gasped. as she remembered they had a garage.
Jade remembered she had Tori's dads, cell number. Tori told her only to call him during work if it was an emergency, as his superior doesn't like his officers to have personal calls while on duty.
Jade knew that this was an emergency without a doubt, so she dialed the number as fast as she could.
The phone rang. "Please answer" Jade pleaded half in a prayer.
"Hello, Jade is that you." Mr. Vega said.
"Yes…This is Jade" Jade said. Her voice sounding absolutely panic stricken.
"What's wrong?" he said, picking up on Jades almost desperate tone of voice.
"Its…its..Tori…She, I think she misunderstood and thought I was leaving her. I think she's at your home and she's going to kill herself. I think she's in the garage. Please get there. Quickly please." Jade said the words tumbling out in rapid succession.
"Oh my god." He said sounding almost panic stricken as Jade. "I'll call it in right away"
Not even bothering to hang up David Vega who was sitting in his parked squad car radioed it in.
"10-33 Emergency, This is unit 1-L19 to all units in the vicinity of 216 Briarwood lane. Respond immediately to report of person attempting suicide in garage. Please dispatch ambulance to scene."
Within seconds 3 units and an ambulance were on their way.
"What's going on?" Said his partner Gary.
"I think my daughter is trying to kill herself." Mr. Vega said as he started his car and hit the lights and siren.
Jade was listening as she heard Mr. Vega radio it in. Not waiting another second she ran to her car and took off towards Tori's parent's house.
As Jade drove to the Vega house, she then thought of the part of the message about her music career being over. Her mind was spinning like top and she couldn't understand what it meant.
Then she remembered the other day Tori wanted to talk with her about something, and she blew Tori off.
"What have I done? Tori needed me?" Jade said as tears began to flow down her face.
Jade made it to the Vega household in record time, blowing about 10 stoplights and driving about 70 in school zone at one point.
As Jade pulled up, she saw no less than 4 squad cars and an ambulance parked in front of the Vega home. Jade slammed on the brakes and haphazardly parked the car. She desperately needed to get to Tori. Her heart was literally beating out of her chest as she ran up to the house.
As she ran around the corner of the house to the driveway, Jade saw a sight that made her heart sink like a stone.
Two paramedics had Tori on a stretcher and were quickly wheeling her up to the parked ambulance.
Tori herself looked unresponsive, as a policeman was trying to give her oxygen. Her skin looked bluish grey.
"NO!" Jade screamed as she sank to her knees. Jade felt like her world had suddenly fallen apart.
"I'm too late" Jade sobbed, utterly grief stricken.
"NO, NO, NO, NO" Jade continued to scream uncontrollably.
A second later Mr. Vega ran to Jade's side.
"Jade, Jade Jade" He had to say it several times before Jade even responded. The pale Goth was beside herself with grief.
"She's not dead." He told her. "Tori's alive"
Hearing that, snapped Jade at least partially out of it.
"She's not?" sobbed Jade.
"We got to her in time. She's in a real bad way but she's alive."
"Oh thank god." Jade said.
"Look, I'm going in the ambulance with Tori, my partner Gary will take you to the hospital"
"Ok" Jade nodded.
"Gary, take Jade her to the hospital, I'm going in the ambulance." Mr. Vega said to his partner as he hopped in the ambulance.
Within seconds the ambulance tore off leaving a still grief stricken Jade behind.
"Come on Jade, let's get you to the hospital."
Across town Beck and Mandy were at home watching TV when becks Cell rang. Beer still in hand Beck hopped of the couch and grabbed the phone.
"It's Jade." He said looking at the caller id.
"Hey babe" he said answering the phone.
Mandy who was still watching the TV turned to see Beck.
"WHAT!" He said as the color abruptly disappeared from his face. Mandy knew instantly that something had gone horribly wrong.
"Where is she?"
"I'll Cat, Robbie and Andre know, we'll be there right away." He said as he hung up the phone.
Beck stood there for a moment looking stunned. Mandy got off the couch and ran up to him.
"What's wrong sweetie?" she said as a horrible feeling started to brew in the pit of her stomach.
"That was Jade, she was hysterical. She said that Tori just tried to kill herself. She's being taken to Westwood general."
Mandy just gasped in horror.
Beck and Mandy ran to their car. Mandy called Cat and Robbie telling that they were on the way. 30 minutes later Beck, Mandy, Robbie, Andre and Cat all in Becks car pulled up In front of the hospital.
Then hurried into the emergency room where they found Jade. She must have been talking to a policeman as he was walking away from her. Jade was still crying, her makeup streaming down her face in long black streams.
"What happened?" Beck said as the group walked up to her. Mandy sat down and took Jades hand.
"I…I…I..Think she overheard me and Natalie talking about me subletting her apartment. She's moving to New York. I was going to get a bigger place for Tori and me. She must have thought I was moving in with Natalie." Jade said between sobs.
"She put her car in her parent's garage, turned on the engine and shut the door."
"Is she…" Andre asked anxiously.
"Barely" Said Jade who was completely falling apart. Jade then looked up at the group. "She said something about her singing career being over. She wanted to talk with me the other day but I blew her off."
"Oh god no." said Cat causing the whole group to look at her.
"What is it?" said Mandy.
"Tori told me a few days ago. Vandal records, was bought out. The new owners decided to only keep the artists under contract that they thought would produce hits. Tori wasn't one of them. She was released from her contract. She was devastated."
Jade who was already in sobbing hysterics looked beyond shocked. He mind reeled at this further revelation.
"She never told me." The Goth said her voice squeaking, as she seemed to sob even harder.
At this point Mr. Vega came up. They are taking Tori upstairs to a hyperbaric chamber which will help remove the carbon monoxide from her system faster. There is a waiting room on the east end of the 4th floor where you can all wait.
"How is she?" Beck asked.
Mr. Vega looked very worried. "They are not sure. She's alive but their worried about brain damage. I have to get back to Tori."
The word Brain Damage seemed to cause Jade to shudder visibly. She was obvious not handling the situation very well at all and everyone could see that.
Mandy and Beck helped Jade up, and walked her upstairs with the rest of the group. Jade just kept repeating "It's my fault and I didn't know" over and over in between sobs.
The group made it up to the waiting room on the 4th floor and waited. Tori was in a room down the hall being treated. Tori's mother arrived soon after, looking extremely upset. Beck filled her in on what he knew before she went into the treatment room.
The group waited. Though the group was very worried about Tori, Beck and Mandy started to worry about Jade, who no longer seemed to be all there. About 20 minutes after they arrived in the waiting room, Mandy who was sitting with Jade got up to talk with Beck. Jade then got up and started to pace back and forth.
She looked like she was barely there. Andre was about to say something when he heard someone come into the room behind him.
He turned around to see a furious looking Trina. Before he could even open his mouth she ran right up to Jade.
"YOU FUCKING WHORE" she screamed at Jade, before punching the Goth right in the jaw.
Jade simply flew backwards against the wall, letting out a groan as she hit it. Before the guys could react, Trina flew across the waiting room and punched Jade in the stomach.
This time the Goth just doubled over in pain. Robbie was the first to get to Trina and tried to get her away from Jade. Trina who seemed to be in a rage, turned sideways and kneed Robbie in the groin. Robbie bellowed out in pain and staggered off into the hallway, before crumpling to the ground.
Trina grabbed Jade, who oddly wasn't even fighting back and threw her against a wall. Once again she grunted in pain but said nothing.
"How dare you dump my sister for that whore Natalie Hart. She's put up with your constant working, never spending any time with her. Constantly having to cancel plans because you pick up some stupid extra project. She loved you and you tossed her aside like a piece of garbage." Trina screeched at the now quivering Goth as Andre and Beck tried to get her off of Jade.
At this point Cat ran to Robbie's aid, while Andre and Beck managed to get Trina away from Jade.
Trina at this point, launched into a long torrents of insults in Spanish. Most of them were about Jade's ancestors being whores, thieves and pigs.
Mr. Vega, who up the hall had heard his elder daughter shouting a long stream of insults in Spanish quickly ran up to see what was happening.
He arrived in time, to see Trina break from Andre and Becks grasp where she landed a punch right on Jade's ribcage. Jade simply groaned in pain once again, before collapsing to the floor.
"TRINA!" shouted Mr. Vega in a rather furious tone.
Trina looked at her dad. "I got Tori's message, this piece of filth dumped Tori for that actress." Trina said seething.
Mr. Vega's face flushed red with anger, as he grabbed Trina by the arm and bodily dragged her down the hall into a room. Just before he shut the door, they heard him start to say that it was a misunderstanding. After that, they just heard Mr. Vega yelling at Trina in Spanish.
"Something's wrong with Jade" Said Mandy, who had run to her aid. Jade was lying on the floor, with a rather glass eyed expression on her face.
Andre pointed at one of the doctors who had come to see what the commotion was about. "I think my friend here is having problems."
Two doctors and a nurse quickly started to examine Jade. One of them, an older doctor with silver hair pointed to a nurse.
"Get a stretcher, she's going into shock"
Within minutes, Jade had been wheeled out on a stretcher to a nearby exam room. Leaving the rest of the group stunned, and in shock themselves.
Lisa and Lori arrived few seconds later where they went in to see Jade.
After a few minutes, Mr. Vega, Trina, Lisa and Lori all reappeared.
"What the hell happened to Jade?" Lori said angrily. "They say she probably has a broken rib and she's almost catatonic. "
"Trina attacked her" Said Mandy in a somewhat accusatory fashion.
"Hey, she was only defending her sister." Beck said to his girlfriend.
Within seconds the assembled group of people seemed to take sides. Mandy and Beck started to argue, Mr. Vega and Lori started to argue. All about what was whose fault.
Andre, Robbie and Cat watched in horror as the assembled group, seemed to start turning on each other.
After a few seconds, Cat who was visibly upset. He boyfriend just got kneed in the groin and she never liked arguments anyway. She suddenly ran into the center of the room and yelled at the top of her lungs.
"QUIET!"
A stunned silence quickly descended on the room.
Cat took a deep breath and spoke. "Both Jade and Tori need us. From what I figure, they both, made mistakes. I think some of us probably could have done more to prevent this. But the last thing we need to do is to turn on each other. We need to work together."
They all nodded in agreement.
Beck spoke up this time. "Everyone follow me. Cat's right. I have an idea."
Not sure what he was doing, they all followed him down the hall a short ways and into a room. It appeared to be a large conference room. A large wooden table sat in the center with leather chairs around it. At one end of the room was a wipe board.
"Everyone sit down." The Canadian ordered.
Surprisingly the group complied.
Beck went to the wipe board and wrote the word Tori on one side and Jade on the other.
"Ok. We have found ourselves in, let's face it, a pretty shitty situation. The best thing we can do is to try and figure out how exactly we got here."
"Let's start with today. I know that Tori seems so to have overheard a conversation, that gave her the false impression that Jade had left her." Beck wrote "thought Jade was leaving" Under Tori's name.
Cat chimed in, that Tori had lost her recording contract, so Beck wrote lost recording contract.
The group started to go along. Lori after a few moment said that Jade was a workaholic like her father. Beck wrote the word workaholic under Jade's name.
For the next 30 minutes, Beck gave everyone in the room an opportunity to speak and tell what they knew about the overall situation. Each of them seemed to hava a piece of the overall puzzle. Trina described her conversation with Tori, about Jade being busy all the time and never speaking up.
Much to everyone's surprise, Becks idea seemed to be working. As Beck wrote more things on the board, a picture started to come into focus.
Tori was under increasing pressure, by her unhappiness over Jades constant working. But out of fear of alienating Jade, and her wanting to support Jade she didn't speak up. Jade was unaware her behavior, was damaging to the relationship.
The loss of her contract, damaged Tori self-image and self-esteem badly. She made the mistake of deciding to wait, to tell Jade how she felt. Jade on the other hand made a mistake by blowing off Tori when she did try to say something, about her contract.
The conversation that Tori overheard gave her the impression that she was being abandoned. Already very close to the edge, that pushed her right over it.
The guessed that Jade was probably starting to suffer a nervous breakdown, when she arrived at the hospital. From the guilt she felt and the shock of having Tori try to kill herself.
"Now we know, or at least have a good idea what happened. Are we all in agreement?" The assembled group all silently nodded.
"That's good. I am going to believe that both girls will be walking out of here in only a matter of days. So that brings us to…"
Beck then erased what he wrote earlier and then wrote.
"Putting Jade and Tori back on Track."
The group then discussed various options for pulling the pair out of their collective tail spin. They also waited for news.
As they waited someone would occasionally check on Jade and Tori.
They learned that Trina managed to crack one of Jades ribs, when she punched the Goth. They also learned that Jade had as they suspected, suffered a mini nervous breakdown. The hospital admitted her. They were informed that Jade was resting under sedation, at the moment.
Talking with doctors they learned that Tori was going to live. However in cases of severe carbon monoxide poisoning, brain damage can occur. They also learned to their dismay, that there would be a chance that Tori would just never wake up again.
After a time, there was simply nothing left to talk about. Trina did apologize to Robbie and Jades mom. They understood and accepted her apology.
Later they took turns waiting outside the hyperbaric chamber. Hoping Tori would wake up.
It was a little after 10 o'clock and Andre was on his shift. Lori was in Jades room watching her while she slept. Lisa had gone home. Robbie, Cat, Mandy and Beck were still in the conference room. Tori's parents, needing a break, decided to get a bite to eat.
The chamber was a like a big glass coffin mounted a large platform. It had all kinds of controls and readouts. Tori was lying in there, wearing a hospital gown. Her color had returned to her skin. But she was still asleep. Seeing her in that glass coffin Andre couldn't help but be reminded of Sleeping Beauty.
He was reading a magazine next to the chamber, when out of the corner of his eye he saw movement.
It was Tori, her eyes were still closed but her left arm was slowly moving up. Tori made a fist and then released it. Andre got up and looked at the Latina.
"Come on Girl, wake up." He said hopefully.
Then Tori started to move her feet, and then her other arm. After a few more minutes, Tori's eyes slowly opened. Tori looked groggy and confused.
Andre hit the intercom and prayed that Tori had suffered no permanent brain damage.
"Tori, it's me Andre, you're in the hospital. Lie still, you're safe."
Tori weakly nodded her head, seeming to understand.
Andre knew the first thing that Tori needed to hear.
"Tori, I'm not sure if you understand. But you need to hear me." Andre said over the intercom.
Tori closed her eyes and the opened them. She then nodded.
"Jade wasn't leaving you. Natalie Hart is moving to New York. Jade was going to sublet the apartment for you and her."
Andre worried that Tori wouldn't understand, but her eyes seemed to open wider. A look of surprise slowly formed on her face.
Tori opened her mouth as if trying to speak. After seeming to have some difficulty she eventually spoke in a tone only slightly louder than a whisper.
"Where's Jade?"
Things are looking up finally. But Jade and Tori will have to work at fixing things.