Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
You promised me forever
Chapter 16 – Coming home.
No ones POV.
During the car ride home, Jade just sat in the back seat and starred out the window. She said almost nothing. The expression on her face was sad and depressed. Lori and Lisa both decided to let her be.
Near the end of the car ride Lisa spoke up.
"Jade, when you were hospitalized we took the liberty of taking your keys, and moving your car back home."
"Thank you." Jade said quietly, not averting her gaze out the window.
Lisa and Lori looked at each other nervously as they got nearer to Jades apartment. They were worried about leaving Jade alone.
"Are you going to be ok Jade?" Lori asked, her voice betraying her nervousness.
"No" she said bluntly.
"Do you want to stay at home with us till tomorrow? Your old bed is always available."
"No thank you."
"Tori's going to be fine Jade." Lisa said, trying to reassure her.
"She almost wasn't" Jade said, letting an edge creep into her voice.
Lori pulled over to he curb, then turned to face Jade.
"Look Jade, I know you feel terrible but I won't take you home if you're not ok. We're both worried."
Jade turned her attention to her mother, speaking softly at first but her voice got angrier as she continued to talk. "You can take me home. All I'm going to do is rest and try to figure out how in the hell, did I not see my girlfriend was so fucking unhappy. Not to mention that fact, that my overworking made her so unhappy in the first place."
Jade closed her eyes for a moment and appeared to try to calm herself.
"I just need to be alone for a while. I can barely control my fucked up emotions right now, and I just need time to digest this. Then, I have to figure out how to possibly make this up to Tori."
Lori nodded and resumed driving. A few minutes later they were pulling up in front her apartment building.
As Jade got out of the car, she asked her mother. "How do I ever make this up to Tori?"
"Just love her." That's all you need to do.
Jade nodded. "Thanks" She said as she walked towards the building.
Jade unlocked the door and entered her apartment. Closing the door behind her she leaned against the back of it and slid down until she was sitting on the floor.
Once again her emotions ran amuck, as she burst into tears.
"I failed you" Jade whimpered between sobs.
Jade sat there on the floor and cried for probably 10 minutes, before she managed to put herself back together.
"I have to be strong for Tori." She said as she got off the floor. Jade knew it would be hard to be strong, but she had to. Her emotions were all over the place; swinging around like a weather vane in a tornado.
Jade moved to the couch and sat down. For a long time she didn't do anything but just sit there. She searched back in her mind, to try and think off all the signs she missed. Signs that her mate was unhappy.
The logical part of her mind told her, that Tori didn't help things by not speaking to her about it.
Looking back she recognized a few times where she should have questioned things, but didn't.
"I should rest." Jade said remembering that's what Tori told her to do. She was still tired and emotionally worn out, so Jade decided to take a nap.
After the nap, Jade did her best to relax. Though she eyed her laptop several times, she resisted the temptation to do some work. Instead she watched "The scissoring" and ordered out for some pizza.
As the evening went on, Jade got a number of calls checking on her. Cat (twice), Beck, Mandy, Lori, Andre even Robbie called at one point.
They all called just to see how she was doing. Jades response was usually "Just trying to relax."
After the 5th call she started to get annoyed.
She called Tori a couple of times, but each time she was sleeping. Eventually Jade settled on sending her a text before she went to bed.
To Tori: Tired, going to bed for night, sweet dreams. We will make it thought this. I love you.
Jade woke up the next morning, having slept so-so. She woke up in the middle of the night with a nightmare about losing Tori. It didn't help that Tori wasn't there next to her.
She showered, dressed and quickly headed to the hospital. As far as Jade was concerned, the sooner Tori was home the better. She felt emotionally a bit more stable than than the previous day but her nerves were still raw.
Jade arrived at the hospital and met Tori's parents in the lobby.
"How are you feeling today Jade?" Asked Mrs. Vega as they headed to the elevators.
"A bit better. I tried to relax yesterday. I didn't do any work."
"That's good Jade." Said Mr. Vega.
"Nothing planned for today. No work, just rest and spend time at home with Tori." Jade said as the elevator arrived.
A few minutes later the trio walked into Tori's room. She was sitting in bed watching TV.
"Hi sweetie" Tori said with a smile as Jade came up to her.
Without saying a word, Jade gave Tori as short but sweet kiss.
"I love you." Jade said after the kiss.
Tori cupped Jades left cheek with her hand. "I love you too"
Before they could discharge Tori, the doctor made a final check. He said she was doing very well, but would be very tired for a few days. But otherwise, she was recovering nicely.
By the time they got the paperwork filled out it was almost 11:30, before Jade got Tori into the car.
"Its about lunch time, do you and Jade want to come to lunch with us?" Said Mrs. Vega as Tori got in the car.
"I'll have to take a rain check mom. I'm a bit tired still. Thanks anyway mom." Tori said.
Mr & Mrs Vega gave their daughter a kiss before Jade started to drive Tori home.
Like she was yesterday, Jade noticed that Tori was quiet and spent most the car ride home looking out the window.
After about 10 minutes Jade broke the silence.
"I never should have slapped you yesterday. No matter how angry I was. That was totally out of line. I'm so sorry Tori. Please forgive me." Jade said sounding very remorseful.
Tori looked at Jade and took her hand.
"I understand Jade. You had been through a lot and you weren't quite yourself. You had a mini nervous breakdown. I forgive you."
"Thank you. I won't do that again"
"I know you won't"
They arrived at home a few minutes later. There was a look of relief on Tori's face as she walked in the door.
"Do you want me to make you some lunch Tori? If you want to sit down, I'll make you something." Jade said walking into the kitchen.
Tori came up in the kitchen behind Jade. She then pressed herself up against Jade's back while wrapping her arms around Jade.
"What I'd like is to do, is to take a nap with your body pressed up against mine." Tori said softly in Jade's ear.
Jade turned around and smiled. "Your wish is my command."
Tori led Jade into the bedroom, where they both stripped down to their underwear then got into bed. Tori made sure to get on the side of Jade which didn't have the cracked rib.
"How is it feeling?" Said Tori, as she ever so gently ran her fingers across the area of Jade's chest which had been hurt.
Jade looked down at her side. "It hurts."
"I'm so sorry." Tori then placed a gentle kiss on the site of her cracked rib. Jade then pulled Tori into her arms, and pulled the Latina tightly against her.
For a moment Jade basked in the warmth coming off Tori's body. It was one of her most favorite things about sleeping with Tori. Just feeing the wonderful warmth from her.
"Penny for your thoughts." Jade said, as she tightened the embrace she had on the Latina ever so slightly.
"Don't knock yourself too hard Jade. I made mistakes too. I kept things from you that I shouldn't."
Jade raised an eyebrow. "Like what?" she said in a tone that was more curious than angry or annoyed. Part of Jade wanted to be angry at Tori for holding things back, but she ignored that part and understood that they both made mistakes.
"Do you remember the day of your mom's wedding. I suggested a romantic weekend at a bed and breakfast."
Jade thought for a moment. "I think so, yeah. I had some film thing going on."
"You asked me if I had a deposit down. I told you No. That was a lie. I had actually planned the whole weekend already." Tori said, a look of shame on her face.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth?" Jade said feeling slightly hurt.
"You had your movie stuff to shoot and I didn't want to bring the moment down any further." Tori said quietly.
"Please don't lie to me anymore. We need to be honest with each other." Jade said in a soft but firm voice.
"I'm sorry Jade."
"The thing is that I put my work ahead of us. You sort of took my lead. I never should done that. It bothers me most that I didn't see you were so unhappy. That really disturbs me."
"Don't feel too bad Jade, you just got caught up in your work. It's ok" Tori said trying to be reassuring.
"No Tori, it's not ok."
Jade closed her eyes and tightened her grip on Tori just a bit more.
Jade opened her eyes as a look of worry came to her face.
"You're my soul mate, I'm supposed to know when you're in pain. This time I didn't see that I was causing you pain. I'm having real problems getting past that. I'm so sorry Tori."
"No one's perfect Jade. I screwed up too. It's important that we reopen the channels of communication. Like now, we're just lying in bed together talking. I like this."
"I like it too."
"I still consider you my soulmate, nothing will ever change that."
"That means a lot to me.' Jade said.
"I'm kind of tired, so I'm going to close my eyes and sleep. Thanks for napping with me. I love you Jade."
"I love you Tori."
Tori closed her eyes and within seconds had drifted off to sleep. Jade clung tight to Tori, not wanting to be anywhere else.
Jade knew they had started their road to recovery and felt good about it. Putting things back on track was Jades first priority at the moment. Everything else would be secondary.
Jade thought for a moment. She then concluded that everything else should always be secondary. Because Jade knew the sleeping Latina in her arms, was the most important thing in the world to her
Jade then closed her eyes and soon after joined her girlfriend in sleep.
Tori and Jade are making a bit more progress. They are also accepting the fact that both of them are at fault.