Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

You promised me forever

Chapter 15 – First steps

No one's pov

"Dam" Tori cried out in pain as she landed on the floor.

Hearing the loud crash, Jade snapped awake and sat up. She was still a tad groggy from the sedative, but shook it off. Looking to her side she saw to her horror, the tray was tipped over and Tori was lying on the ground next to it. She was in her hospital gown and looked like she was in pain.

Jade though still saddled with a soul crushing amount of guilt and some very frayed nerves, snapped into action. Her protective instincts overrode her other problems. She quickly hopped out of bed and ignored the rush of pain that shot out from her ribcage as she landed on her feet.

"What happened Tori?" Jade said as sat down next to Tori and helped her up to a sitting position.

Tori looked up at Jade. "You were having a nightmare. I was trying to wake you up. I crawled to your bed and tried to pull myself up." She said weakly.

Jade suddenly felt even worse, to find out Tori had to crawl to help her. But in a sudden unexpected rush of emotion Jade just wrapped her arms around Tori and pulled her into a very tight hug.

"I thought I lost you." Jade said as the first of the tears started to come from her eyes. Jade ignored the fact, that having Tori pressed up against her caused her great pain due to her cracked rib.

"I'm sorry Jade. I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought you were leaving me. I couldn't live without you. I love you so much."

"No, I should be apologizing for hurting you. You tried to tell me, you lost your contract. I was working too much. I was never around. This is my entire fault. You're the love of my life and I hurt you!" Jade said as her tears turned from a trickle to a stream. She was feeling the full onslaught of her guilt, now.

"I hurt you, I should have protected you. I..I..I…" Jade found herself unable to speak anymore, as her feelings of guilt overwhelmed her. Jade sobbed uncontrollably into Tori's shoulder.

Tori herself felt her guilt overwhelming her. She had hurt Jade. The woman who was supposed to be her soulmate.

"Are you two alright?" said Beck as he came in the door.

"My god what happened?" Said Mandy, as she saw the tray tipped over and the two girls sobbing uncontrollably in each others arm.

Neither girl answered, as they both continued to hold each other and cry.

"Come on; let's get them on the bed." Beck said to Mandy.

Andre came in about a second later. His face registered surprise as he noticed the women on the floor.

"Help me please Andre? Grab a hold of Tori." Beck requested. Beck grabbed a hold of Jade while Andre helped Tori off the floor. Mandy grabbed the tray and set it up right.

Tori seemed snap out of it first, wiping away some tears with one had as she took Jade's hand with the other.

"I woke up and Found jade was having a nightmare." Tori said in a soft voice.

She took a breath as if she was already tired out. "I couldn't call out loud enough to wake her so I crawled over and tried to wake her up. I tipped over the tray and fell to the floor."

"Are you ok Tori?" Andre asked.

"I'm kind of wiped already, but I think I'll be ok." She said quietly as she seemed pretty exhausted.

"How are you Babe" Beck said putting a hand on Jade's shoulder.

Jade poked her side where her ribs were taped up and grimaced in pain. She then quietly nodded.

It was then, Cat, Robbie, Lisa, Lori and Mrs. Vega all entered the room.

They all sensed that something was wrong.

"Did something happen?" Lisa asked.

Beck nodded. "Tori woke up and saw Jade was having a nightmare. She crawled over to Jades' bed to wake her, but knocked over the tray here. She's very tired but seems ok."

Lori went over and examined her daughter.

"How is your rib feeling dear" Lori said to Jade.

"It hurts"

"Trina apologized to me, she's very sorry."

"She was only defending Tori's honor. Besides, I can't say I didn't deserve it in some fashion." Jade said lowering her head.

At this point, Beck spoke up. "Tori and Jade we have all come to talk to you about the situation here."

"Like an intervention of some kind?" Jade said.

"Yes"

Beck half expected Jade to roll her eyes or make some rude comment. Instead she just nodded and squeezed Tori's hand.

"Just so we're on the same page, we need to fill you in on what happened after you had your little breakdown." Beck continued.

Both Jade and Tori glanced at each other for a moment, but said nothing.

"We were all worried, upset and stressed out. After the Doctors took Jade away, we started to take sides and began to turn on each other. But Cat kind of scolded all of us. So we all piled into a conference room and tried to work out exactly what happened and what lead up to this. It turns out that between all of us, we were able to determine what lead up to this."

Beck then detailed, what the group had determined happened that lead to Tori's attempted suicide and Jades subsequent meltdown. Tori and Jade quietly listened. Nodding to confirm various points. They both seemed to agree with Becks account.

"To put it simply, communication broke down between you two. The result was, that you both hurt each other very badly. Not intentionally of course."

Beck stepped back and Lori then took over.

"Now, we want to all help you two get back on track. But I do need to say, that you both are probably feeling tons of guilt and remorse. You're not going to be able to put this behind you,by just saying I'm sorry. This will take some time to repair your damaged relationship. You two have some stuff to work through." Lori said.

She raised a finger in the air as if to make a point. "I'm reminded of something my grandfather told me once. He said the words "I love you" were just words. Like the phrases, This end up, or hold the mayo. But they do have a lot of implied meaning. But my grandfather would say. The words I love you don't mean really anything. The real I love you is everything you do, say and feel between the times you say I love you. I think you two kind of forgot that."

Both girls nodded in agreement.

"First of all, Tori please don't scare us like that again. You can call anyone in this room at any time ,if you need help."

Tori looked very ashamed. "I'm sorry" She said quietly.

"Jade, I should have been more direct when I realized it. But you were turning into a workaholic, much like your father. You need to remember what's important. That lady next to you, is more important to any film."

"I'm sorry Tori." Jade said lowering her head.

"Now we all had a discussion as to how to help. We came up with some ideas. Jade you have a double major, Film and acting. If you drop the 2nd major of acting and reduce it to a minor, I will pay for you to go back to school at a later date to get that 2nd major."

Jade didn't even hesitate. "Sounds good."

Lori then asked. "How much time do you need to finish your contest film?"

Jade appeared to think for a moment. "A weeks work, maybe a week and a half"

Lori nodded. "Beck who has a minor in film, has volunteered for no credit and no pay, to assist you in the completion of your film. He said he could do some of the grunt work. To your specifications of course. That way, you can complete your film for the contest and not overwork herself."

"I'll take that offer, thanks Beck." Jade said.

"Tori your mother and father think you and possibly Jade should see some counseling to help work through this. You can do it individually or together, which ever you like. We can arrange payment for sessions."

Both Jade and Tori nodded in agreement.

Lori smiled at this point. "Now the two of you have hardly spent any quality time together in many months. So we have decided to send you two on vacation, over thanksgiving break in a few weeks. Tori, your mother has already spoken to your boss at the coffee bean and arranged time off. He told her you were suffering from exhaustion. You will both take off 3 days from school and make it a whole week."

Both girls smiled. "We could go…" Jade started to say before her mother cut her off.

"Jade, we've already picked out your trip and have begun the arrangements. We decided to take this one out of your hands. To save you the stress, we will be arranging and paying for everything. There is one proviso, however. There will be NO songwriting and No scriptwriting or filmmaking of any kind on this trip. Don't make us confiscate your laptops. Fun and relaxation with each other only. Do you both undertand?" Lori said being a bit sterner on the last sentence."

"Yes" Both Tori and Jade said in unison.

"I'd tell you where you were going. But, to make it seem a bit more spontaneous and mysterious, we will not tell you your destination until you get to the airport. Pack clothes for weather that will be in the 50's and 60's. Not too warm, not to cold. It's a fun place; you both will certainly enjoy yourselves."

Jade looked as if she was going to protest for a moment but, just said "Thank you all."

"Yes, thank you." Tori said.

At that point, the group chatted with Tori and Jade. After about 10 minutes a doctor came and examined Tori.

After the exam he said to the assembled group.

"She's recovering very well. She's still very weak. We will keep her one more day just for observation."

He then examined Jade, and spoke to her and her mother.

"Jade, you can go home today. I'm discharging you. Though you need to relax for a few days, and obviously work out your issues with your girlfriend. You need to be careful about you rib. It will hurt for a while. I'll write a prescription for the pain. It will take several weeks to heal fully. "

Jade looked to Tori. "I don't want to leave you Tori."

"It's Ok. All I'm going to do is sleep. Go home baby, and rest. You can pick me up tomorrow. We can talk then in private." Tori said, looking very run down.

An hour later Jade was dressed and ready to leave the hospital. Her mom and Lisa were going to drive her home. Everyone else was going home as Tori was exhausted after the mornings events.

"Can I talk to her alone for a second?" Jade asked everyone in the room as she moved to the side of Tori's bed.

They all nodded and slowly filed out leaving Jade alone with Tori, who was now back in her bed.

Jade quietly stood there for a second, with an expression indicating she was in emotional turmoil. Tori thought Jade looked like someone who was about to blow up.

No longer able to control her anger as well as her guilt, Jade slapped Tori on the face.

Tears began to flow from Jade's face. "Don't ever scare me like that again Tori Vega! I thought you died on me! How..How..How..could you ever think I would leave you?" Jade said in a very angry tone of voice.

Tori just sat there shocked, as Jades various emotions came pouring out in an incontrollable torrent.

"I know I've been a rotten girlfriend, and I will make it up to you. But you need to remember I love you and I can't ever loose you. I'm so sorry I hurt you." Jade said as her emotions seemed to wildly swing, from anger to deep remorse.

Jade sat on the bed and seemed to break down again. Tori just put her arms around the Goth, and pulled her into a hug.

With tears in her eyes, Tori rubbed circles on Jade's back. "I feel terrible for hurting you. I won't ever scare you again. I promise, we will be together forever." Tori wasn't exactly sure why she said the last bit, but she meant with her all her heart.

Jade sobbed for another minute or more before somewhat composing herself.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Jade said wiping away tears.

"No, just go home and rest. I'm going to sleep, probably the rest of the day. "

Jade nodded. "I'm sorry I slapped you. I'm still very broken up inside and don't quite have full control of my emotions. I love you."

Tori took Jade's hand and squeezed it. "That makes two of us. I love you."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Jade said as she left.

Beck came in a second later. "We were all going to go, so you can rest. Did you need anything else before we all left?"

"No" Tori said shaking her head. "I'm real tired. All I want to do is sleep."

Beck walked up to Tori, and gave her kiss on the forehead. "Just remember you can call any of us day or night if you need anything."

Tori smiled. "Will do. Thanks Beck."

As Beck started to leave, he said. "You do know Jade will probably keep you on a very short leash for a very long time. Almost losing you, really scared her. I hope that doesn't cause problems."

Tori made a half smile. "I'm fine with that, because I'm going to be keeping her on an even shorter one."

"Good for you. Get well and enjoy the vacation we'e all planning for you. See you later Tori"

"I will" She said to the Canadian, as he left the room.

Tori took a moment to reflect on her feelings. She felt so guilty and very remorseful. Only now, was she realizing how badly she hurt Jade. As much so or even more than she was, Tori thought. But, Tori was determined to make it better between the two.

Tori laid down at this point, where sleep quickly claimed her.

Tori and Jade have taken their first steps on the road to repairing their damaged relationship. On top of that all their friends and family are helping them out. Not to mention sending them on a vacation to points unknown. I thought it would be more fun if they didn't know until the last second where they were going.

It's a fun place, trust me.