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

You promised me forever

Chapter 17 – Recovering.

Tori's POV

Jade and I had gone to bed around 12:30 in the afternoon. I love falling asleep in Jade's arms, which is what I did today. I felt a growing confidence as I succumbed to sleep that Jade and I were going to work though this. I even hoped our bond would grow stronger.

Waking up alone I looked at the clock. It was 5:57. I had slept the entire afternoon. I heard a noise that sounded like a plate come from the other room. I got up, put on a bathrobe and walked into the living room. I could immediately smell the spicy smell of enchiladas.

"Hey sleeping beauty." Jade said with a smirk from the kitchen.

"Dinner smells good." I said as I entered the kitchen.

It appeared that dinner was nearly finished.

"I'll heat the refried beans." I said as I grabbed the can.

"Drop that can Vega." Jade snapped.

I looked at her with surprise and placed the can on the table.

"I'm making you dinner. So sit your beautiful ass down on the couch and let me finish."

From the determined look on Jade's face, I realized that arguing with her was pointless. After a moment of me standing there in the kitchen, she pointed to the couch.

"Sit" She ordered.

I walked to the couch and watched TV until dinner was ready. Jade said nothing more and simply concentrated on finishing dinner.

Most of the time, we eat dinner while sitting on the couch. Our plates sit on the coffee table in front of the couch. We don't use our dining room table very often.

Jade walked up with a plate and a soda, which she placed down in front of me. A moment later she got hers.

"Thanks for making dinner. I would have helped." I said as I ate a forkful of Spanish rice.

"I know you would have helped but I didn't want your help. You need to relax and you also need to be spoiled as well. I'm going to see that both of those things happen." Jade said as she cut off piece of her enchilada and ate it.

"How long did you sleep?" I asked.

"Hmm…about 2 hours. I got up and spoke with Beck on the phone. We were working out details, on how he's going to help me finish my movie."

"That's good."

"How are you feeling Tori?"

"Feeling a bit run down. My nap helped."

"Doctor said you were lucky as there appears to be no permanent damage or other effects."

Tori shook her head somewhat sadly. "Yeah."

Tori then sighed. "I'm sorry I put you through that. If I thought you were doing something wrong I should have simply confronted you." Tori said as her voice trailed off.

"There was a lot of things you should have confronted me about." Jade said.

Tori nodded in agreement.

After a few minutes of eating, Jade asked. "So where do you think we're being exiled to?"

"Obviously not the beach." Tori said.

"Unless it's a real cold one."

"Just as long as were exiled together. I think the time will do us good."

"Anyplace with a bar and a bathtubs alright" Jade sang out softly.

"Song lyric?" Tori said with a raised eyebrow.

"50 games of solitaire by Concrete Blonde"

"I'm sure it will be fine." I said

"They will pick out a fun place."

"So you're intending on spoiling me?" I said changing the subject

Jade smiled. "Yes"

"Good, just as long as you don't mind me spoiling you."

Jade laughed. "What. Are we going to make this a competition?"

I leaned over and kissed her. "Than we both win."

My weakness gradually faded over the next couple of days. During that time, I just relaxed and did a bit of songwriting. Jade started to return to her normal self. Though we both knew we had a lot do work through.

Jade and Beck started to work on finishing her film. With Beck's help Jade was able to finish it in 5 days. She happily sent the completed project off to the judges. Jade told me that she wouldn't know until late January.

Jade and I decided to seek counseling together. Our therapist was a woman in her 40's named Dr. Holmes. She seemed friendly and attentive.

We had a lot to work out. Both of us.

Our first session came a week after my attempt. We spent most of it, just explaining what led us up to my attempt. After we told our story, the doctor paused for a moment before she started to speak.

"I'm glad you decided to see counseling together as you're problems are intertwined. You both seem to be on the right path so far. You said you've had several discussions already about the issues that lead to this. That's very good. I have a few specific questions at this point." Dr. Holmes said.

"Shoot." Jade said.

"Jade, what exactly went through your mind when you turned the corner and saw Tori being wheeled down the driveway on a stretcher?"

Jade closed her eyes for a moment and almost grimaced in pain. Opening her eyes she began to speak slowly.

"I was so desperate to get to Tori, I could barely think straight. I ran around the corner and the first detail I remember noticing was Tori's green t shirt. Then I noticed her skin which was bluish grey in color. She looked unresponsive and they were trying to give her oxygen."

Jade stopped speaking for a moment appearing to be overcome with emotion. I put my arm around Jade to help her.

"I thought she was dead." Jade said in a rather sad voice.

"I said NO and sank to my knees, sobbing. My whole world seemed to be coming apart all at once. I had been oblivious to all the problems that Tori was going through, so this pretty much blindsided me. I blamed myself for her death. Even though I had little idea what was really going on, I blamed myself."

"That was the catalyst for your subsequent breakdown. It was a tragic situation and I'm sorry you experienced it. But you can learn from this."

For the rest of the session the doctor helped Jade come to terms with her guilt. One of the things she told Jade was.

"It happens to everyone at one point or another in their life and that is, you chose to believe what you wanted to believe. You wished to believe your relationship with Tori was a healthy one. So you ignored anything that threatened your belief. We all fall victim to it. It's all too easy. My husband's uncle ignored the fact that his son looked more like his best friend, than he did. He got really mad when it was pointed out to him and he insisted that his son was his son until the day he died. So you want the relationship to be healthy. That's good. You need to remember that a healthy relationship needs work."

"So I'm not alone in falling victim to that then." Jade said taking the advice to heart.

"Not by a long shot." Dr. Holmes. Said.

In the next session the guns were turned on me, so to speak.

I spoke at length about my not telling Jade about my feelings of unhappiness. I told her many of the reasons why. I couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment on Jades face as she spoke of it.

Dr. Holmes addressed me. "Tori. You were afraid of alienating Jade so you kept quiet. You also wanted to support her film career. Holding things back is never healthy, even if you're doing for what you think. It's all about communication."

I felt very bad that I was not forthcoming with Jade. But her and I are trying to learn from this and we both feel that we are.

Jade made a point to spend a lot of time with me. She did try to spoil me. Cooking me several dinners and giving me several gifts. I did the same. For the first time in a long time, I started to feel like we were a couple again.

Eventually 3 weeks past and we started to get ready for our trip. We packed clothes for the range of temperatures they told us; 50's and 60's. I bought a new bikini for myself and some other fun things from Victoria's secret, all for the trip. I suspect Jade did the same.

So the morning of the 24th came and we were both packed and excited to go on our mysterious vacation. I tried several times to get Cat to spill the beans, but she said nothing.

We were told we would be picked up at 12 noon to go to the airport. Sure enough at 12 noon Lisa and Lori arrived.

"Ready for your little adventure?" Lisa said as we started to load our stuff in the car.

"So can you tell us where we are going?" Jade asked as she put her suitcase in the car.

"Not until you're at the airport." Lori said.

Jade and I piled in the car and held hands in the back seat, as we drove. I was nervous and excited. Jade looked much the same way. The fact is that we had no idea where we were vacationing, made it even more exciting.

"Come on tell us something." I said as it was killing me that we didn't know.

"Sorry, No can do." Lisa said.

30 minutes later we were parking at LAX. I was getting progressively more giddy and excited. Jade just kept looking at me like I was a crazy person. She was excited but not bursting at the seems excited like I was.

Finally we arrived at the ticket counter. There was a good amount of people in line. The whole airport seemed quite busy.

"Now can you tell us?" I said, no longer able to contain my excitement.

Lori pulled out an envelope from her purse.

"Everyone, all your friends and family, either helped plan or pay for this trip. Cat, Andre, Robbie, Trina, Etc… They all send their love. Don't worry about paying anyone back. We all want you to both have a good time and to bond with each other again. Of course you do remember the one rule." Lori said.

Jade nodded. "No scriptwriting, no film making and no songwriting."

"We got it" Said Tori.

"Ill give you the honors Lisa." Lori said handing her the envelope.

"Well we wanted to send you someplace fun. Lots of fun." Lisa said as she opened the envelope.

"Well you're both 21 now so we decided to send you to.."

Lisa let it hang for a moment for dramatic effect.

"Las Vegas"

This probably isn't my best chapter. I wasn't totally happy with it. I had a tad of writers block, but the chapter got me to where I wanted to go. The group is sending Tori and Jade to Las Vegas.