Bury the Past

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 19 (Father-Daughter Stakeout)

Staking out the daycare on a hunch, Trina gently tapped her thumb on the steering wheel of her father's car. She had a feeling Jade would want to return to work, and was checking the location out just to see if it would happen. Furthermore, if she did return, it could signify the result of another lingering suspicion she had.

Her father was in the passenger seat with his nose buried in an open newspaper. "Houston beat the Cowboys 35 to 10," David muttered. Trina's thumb slid flat on the steering wheel and her eyebrow arched up. "Cowboys haven't won a series in a while." She turned her head and flattened her eyebrows as she watched him reach into a box of Krispy Kreme.

"Oh my god, you've become a cliché." He froze, his fingers pinching a jelly donut and his eyebrows rising up high. "Yeah Dad, you really need to retire."

"Fuck it." He picked up the donut and raised it to his lips. "I'd be more of a cliché if I was just a traffic cop eating a donut and reading the paper." He closed his eyes, shrugged, and bit into the donut.

"We need whiskey." She rolled her eyes and groaned. "I shouldn't drink, though." David grunted and lowered the donut.

"There are plenty of bars around here, if you want a drink. I'll drive." She chuckled softly and shook her head from side to side. "Nothing wrong with indulging yourself once in a while."

"Yeah, but I-" Movement in the corner of her peripheral caught her attention and she snapped her eyes over to see Beck pulling up in his car. "Look! It's them." David closed his newspaper and leaned forward, studying the couple closely.

"So he's decided to bring her to work." He pulled a section of the paper out and started to hand it over. "Here, it's the business section."

"I don't read the paper, Pop."

"Would you prefer the comics?"

"Yes." He removed another section and Trina took the pages from him. They waited until Beck guided Jade into the wheelchair and pushed her into the daycare, then followed carefully behind.

Once inside, they sat in a couple chairs in the waiting area and held the pages in front of them. Trina spotted an old Peanuts short and started to snicker, stopping only when David nudged her. "Not so much noise," he hissed, "We're on a stakeout."

"I can't help it."

"Stop, or I'll give you the business section."

"That's almost as hilarious as the comics…" She turned her head, looking to the receptionist's desk. There was a wall directly to their side, creating a small alcove that shielded them from a sideways glance.

"It's nice to see you at work," Mrs. Benson stated. The golden haired woman smiled at Jade and watched as Beck shuffled towards the door. He stopped with his hand on the pushbar and looked at the waiting room with narrow eyes and a deep frown.

After a moment, he left. "It's good to be back, Sam." Jade took a deep breath and looked at the desk. "I've missed it here. I can't believe I actually got him to let me come to work."

"Right." Sam looked at Trina and David with a simple nod. They had already let her know they were here, so there wasn't any issue with their presence. "Everything should be just as you left it. Please let me know if you need anything." Sam hugged the woman and cast an almost motherly gaze onto her. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah…"

"If you need anything, I'm here. If you need to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks." With that, Sam departed into her office, leaving Jade alone to fend for herself. Trina leaned forward, poking her head around the corner wall to get a better view of the girl.

Jade was shaking like a leaf, looking both nervous and relieved at the same time She was trying to read a book, but her hands were tense and twitching. Tears were running down the woman's face and she kept looking at the parking lot as though she were afraid of something outside.

"Do you think Beck's still out there?" Trina whispered. David stared out at the lot, shaking his head slowly.

"I don't see him. He might have better things to do."

"Somehow, I doubt that."

Over time, Trina watched with a sense of longing as parents brought their children in to drop them off at the center. Her hand drifted to her stomach and she smiled each time a mother or father said a tearful goodbye to their little child with the promise of returning after the workday.

Her mind began to wander away from her investigation for a moment, and she began to think of how she and Martin would do as parents. She knew she would be the type of mother to be firm but loving; not the type to never say no or constantly spoil her child, but the type to give her baby the best life possible and help them to grow up and be strong.

She wanted to remind her child to be strong, to stand up for themselves and to be courteous as well as kind. When they did wrong, she would let them know; and when they did right, she would reward them. No matter what, she would love them.

Confident as she was, she was nervous too. Her mother was gone, so when the time came, she knew she wouldn't have Holly to help her through that. Carol would be there, however, and that was important to her. Even more important, however, her father would actually be there. Now that they were finally starting to get along after two decades, she wanted him there.

The vision that came to her mind was pleasing. She and Martin held a little baby in their arms while Carol raced about the kitchen, trying to prepare turkey for a Christmas feast. At the same time, she could see Gary and David standing in front of a Christmas tree, arguing over ornaments and over what should go on top of the tree.

"Trina?" David's voice interrupted her, pulling her back from the daydream. She blinked twice, raising her head and realizing that she had fallen on his shoulder. "Are you that exhausted?"

"No, I'm just thinking about stuff, sorry."

"Focus. Jade's doing something." He motioned out and Trina looked to see Jade with a child in her lap. The girl was smiling through a stream of tears while the child looked at her with great concern.

"Where have you been Mrs. Ollie, and why are you crying?"

"It's nothing sweetie," Jade hugged the child-clearly bonding with it. Trina figured the woman had grown to be this way for a lot of the children there, a mother figure almost. "I-I had an accident recently. That's all." Jade's voice broke. The child's mouth formed an oval.

"Oh my goodness! Is that why you're in a wheeling chair?"

"Yeah…A couple of my friends were involved too." Jade wiped her eyes and gasped softly. "How about we talk about something else?"

"Are your friends okay?" Jade closed her eyes and shook her head. The child hugged Jade and smiled. "Mommy used to always say whenever we lose someone, we should remember the good things. Do you remember good stories about them?" Jade laughed once, nodding her head.

"Yeah." Trina and David exchanged a confused look, now more certain than ever they'd been lied to regarding Jade's amnesia. "I remember back in high school, one of my best friends…Tori…" Jade wiped a tear from her face and breathed in deep. "We met when she spilled something on my husband's shirt. I thought she was flirting with him."

"Flirting?"

"Oh, um, that's…Well, they were talking" Jade smiled sweetly, a sparkle shone in her eyes. "I was a little jealous, but over the years she seemed fine." Trina leaned into her father, about to suggest that Jade may not have amnesia at all. "We had a lot of good times in high school. Tori had this sister, I remember, we used to-we weren't very nice."

"What?" The child's eyes grew and the child gasped out in shock. "You? Not nice?" Jade chuckled sadly and shook her head.

"A lot has changed. When I was younger, I wasn't as good of a person as I am now. I didn't like the girl, Katrina, because before Tori and I became friends…she approached me, angry that I was treating her sister the way that I was. I was proud, and didn't like being told I was wrong, so I picked on her a lot afterwards…my friends followed, and I guess Tori just wanted to be liked, so she would join in."

Tears welled up in Trina's eyes and she felt a flicker of anger that she pushed down out of pity and understanding. David looked to her, concerned. "You going to be okay?" He whispered? She cleared her throat and nodded.

"I'll be fine." Finally, she understood what it was that caused Jade's ire against her. "I've always been protective of Tori. I remember the incident Jade's talking about…"

It was more than one incident, in truth. The first time had been when Tori didn't want to go back to Hollywood Arts because of Jade, Trina found the girl and began berating her for treating her sister like shit. The next incident was when Tori had been forced to go into detention, and that incident carried more weight than the first.

"Do you remember when Tori got detention for getting into a fight with Jade?"

"Yeah. Some playacting thing, right?"

"Yeah." Trina breathed in deep and closed her eyes. "Jade faked having been hit by Tori. Purposely got her in trouble just because she didn't like her. God, I was furious when I found out."

"How'd you find out?"

"Sinjin told me. He said he saw everything and knew Jade was faking it. Then I followed her, and I saw her putting makeup on to fix her 'bruise'…" Trina pressed her lips together and shook her head. "It was the first time I ever got physical because of my sister."

The stall door flew open and Jade froze as Trina appeared in the bathroom mirror. "You're faking it?" She growled. Jade looked over her shoulder and shrugged.

"What's it to you?"

"That's my little sister, that's what." Trina grabbed Jade, pushing her against the counter and glaring into her eyes. "How dare you get her in trouble because of your own fucked up issues!" Jade flinched as Trina's nostrils flared. Her anger was greater than she'd felt in a long time, and her fist was clenched and ready-though she wasn't going to swing. "Why do you keep messing with her? Because you think she came onto your boyfriend?"

"Get off me, Vega." Jade pushed her off and walked a few feet to the right, scoffing loudly. "She's just a bitch that has a thing for my boyfriend. So what if I put her in her place at least once, she needs to know where she stands."

"Excuse me?" Trina cracked her neck and made her approach. "That is my sister you're talking about."

"And she doesn't give a shit about you, so why should you?" Trina froze as Jade's narrow eyes darted over to her. The goth's lips twisted into a small smirk and she began to chuckle. "I mean, no one really likes you, so what does it matter? She talks shit about you all the time, you know." Trina flared her nostrils and raised her hand. "What? You going to take a swing at me? Go ahead, I'll just tell Eikner I was assaulted by Tori's sister out of retaliation."

"Fuck you. I don't care, but you treat my little sister with respect or we're going to have problems, got that?"

It had been many years since then, and things had certainly changed. Since then she had stopped being so protective of her little sister, but now she wondered if she should have ever stopped.

"Trina had a toughness about her," Jade explained to the child, "Something that I think the wrong kind of people put down." The child furrowed its brow and lowered its gaze. "Bullies, I mean. If you take anything from this conversation…don't ever be a bully. Don't ever be mean to people, because in the end, it hurts a lot."

"I don't think you were ever a bully."

"I was, and I wasn't a good one. I regret those days, I do…always have…"

With that, Trina had her answer. Jade did not have amnesia. The question now was why would Jade put on the act of having amnesia?

She and David left a couple hours later, convinced even more that something was up. "Do you think he's forcing her to act like she has a case of amnesia?" David inquired. "Or is there something more to it?"

"I don't know what more there could be."

"You have to realize that if she's lying to investigators about amnesia, it means one of two things: Either she's under duress or she herself is involved in what happened." Trina leaned her head back slowly and closed her eyes. "She wouldn't be the first to injure herself either."

"Do we consider that angle?"

"If HIV contraction is a motive for Beck, it could certainly be one for her…" David scratched his chin and started to hum. "But no, I believe she's as much of a victim as the others, but the trouble here is you have to look at every possible angle there is as a homicide detective, even if you don't like a specific angle…because a lot of times, there is that angle."

"Yeah, but she seemed to be genuinely grieving."

"Agreed. We need to look at Beck even harder now."

So what are your thoughts here? I hope you enjoyed the moments too, heh. Well. Thoughts and observations?