Bury the Past

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

Chapter 20 (Awakened)

Tori's hospital room was still as cold as the day Trina first entered. Sitting in the chair, wishing her sister would wake, Trina could only say words she wasn't sure her sister could hear. "I'm going to catch him, Tori." Her hands clenched tight as she studied her sibling. She still looked like she was doing nothing but sleeping as she had been. "The man that did this to you. We're closing in on him."

She glanced over her shoulder. Her father was standing outside, talking to a nurse. Trina looked down and scooted her chair closer to Tori's bedside. "Tori…" She took her sister's hand, squeezing it as though doing so would squeeze life into her sibling. "There's something I wanted to tell you. Even when we were kids, I always wanted you to be the first to know."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she started to smile. "I don't know how to say it." Her voice wavered as she gently slid her fingers across her abdomen. "Tori, I used to dream of how you'd be as an aunt. When I was a little girl, I thought you'd spoil your nieces and nephews."

She clenched her eyes shut and dropped her forehead to her sister's hand. "I don't care what you've said, what you've done-to me or to anyone else…" Her voice shook again and she gasped out softly. "You're still my sister, I still love you. I want you to know I am here for you, if you need help, I'm here."

Trina looked at the heart monitor, shaking her head from side to side. "Hell of a time to say it, but I don't know how to bring it up to Martin or even to Dad." She chuckled twice and breathed in slow. "Tori, I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a baby." Her forehead wrinkled and she leaned over, looking down at her sister's face. "If it's a girl, I'm naming her after you."

Squeezing Tori's hand with her right, she ran her left fingers through her sister's hair. "I still dream of you showering my children with gifts and snacks. I dream of you being that crazy fun aunt that can't stop getting my children in trouble." She chuckled again sadly and started to sob. "I need you, Tori. I need you."

She raised her head slowly and wiped her cheeks with the back of her left hand. "Dad and I have started to make up, we're working on things now. It's difficult, we're both petrified. We've lost mom…she's gone, little sis, we can't lose you too."

Suddenly she felt something strange, a brushing sensation in her right hand. Her eyes darted over and widened when she saw Tori's fingers moving. "Oh my god." Her heart began to race and she turned around as Tori's hand started to close further around hers. "D-Dad! Nurse!"

It didn't take long before David and the nurse ran in, both looking alarmed and worried. "What's going on?" David asked. The monitor began making some strange motions that Trina didn't understand, and for a moment she thought she saw Tori's eyelids flutter.

"Tori's moving." The nurse started to check something, then scurried out of the room. David hurried to the other side of Tori's bed and put an arm over Tori's left forearm.

"Tori?" He started. "Tori, honey?"

Trina squeezed Tori's hand in return. "I'm here Tori. I'm here…"

For Tori, she'd been trapped on a crumbling platform for so long. The monkey bars of her dream had finally come back and the red sky had slowly turned to blue. Hearing her sister's voice, she was able to rise and see her sister return on newer, pristine monkey bars.

She could hear her sister. "Take my hand." Tori reached out bravely, but with a fearful whimper. "I'm here, Tori. I'm here." Her entire body shook as she leaned her entire body off, using only her hand on the edge to stabilize herself. "I'm here." When she grabbed her sister's hand, the trembling within ceased and she felt a sense of relief washing over her.

Trina waited anxiously, watching as Tori started to open her eyes. Her heart skyrocketed when she saw her sister stare at the ceiling, then look towards her. Doctors piled in with a few nurses, ready to work on the girl.

"It's going to be okay." Trina ran her hand through Tori's long brown hair and shakily kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay." Tori's hand tightened like a vice grip and the girl's eyes moved about the room in a frenzy.

It took some time for the nurses to stabilize her, but once they did, Tori was declared ready to see people. Trina was torn between being a sister and being an investigator, because she knew that when it came to victims waking up from a coma, there was always the risk of time being limited before losing the patient.

David appeared to be having the same problem, pacing in the hallway and scratching his head vigorously. "Dad, what do we do?" David paused and looked at her with an uncertain look.

"In my experience as a homicide investigator, the first thing you do with a hospitalized victim is apologize and ask questions relating to the crime. Because their state can change in an instant." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I want to be there as her father, just as much as you want to be there as her sister, but we also don't know if-if something might happen…She may have information to help our case."

"So in the end, you don't know what to do either?"

"I don't. I-I can't believe it, but I don't."

Trina took another deep breath and ran her hand over her forehead, positioning it just above her eyes for a moment. "Maybe…Maybe it would be better we go in as family first, because she needs family."

"Then my superior would ask you 'what happens if she slips back into a coma'?" Trina grabbed her hair and groaned.

"Shit, you're right."

The nurse stepped out and the two looked at her. "She's stable and willing to talk about the case, if it helps your investigation." Trina furrowed her brow and the nurse motioned to the door. "The doctor notified her that the two of you were also looking into the case, she appears ready to discuss what she can."

They nodded and followed the nurse in. Tori's eyelids were partially open and her hands were moving slowly along the sides of the bed. "Trina…" Tori's voice was raspy and weak. They moved slowly to her father. "Dad…"

Trina's eyes welled up with tears as she approached her sister. "Tori, I'm so sorry. I have so much I want to talk about. I have so much I want to say." Trina squeezed her sibling's hand and whispered. "I love you little sis." Tori's eyebrows scrunched together and rose in the center.

"I'm sorry." Tori breathed in deep. "For everything." Tori closed her eyes and a solitary tear ran down the side of her face. "If you want to talk about what happened, I'd like to. If you have questions, I can answer."

"Okay…we do." There was a police officer in the room to aid in taking notes, and David's supervisor was present as well-having been called in once Tori became responsive. "But we do have questions pertaining to the case. We found a journal in your apartment." Tori rasped and her chest started to rise.

"Okay."

"In it you say 'he knows now', there was a very cryptic message in your last entry. Who knew what, and what was over?" Tori shook her head slowly.

"Beck," She replied with another raspy groan. "Jade and I, and Andre, had a thing going. Jade was bored, looking to try something new…so we approached her."

"We know you were doing pornography. Is that what you approached Jade about?"

Tori nodded slowly. "Yes. At first it was nothing, it meant nothing to me anyway. Then it started to." Tori chuckled softly. "Never thought I'd like being with a woman, but I did. Jade seemed to like dating Andre more though. He provided the dates, I provided the sex."

"So there was an affair."

"Yes. Beck found out." Tori sucked in another large breath. "He approached us. Andre and myself. He was furious. He said he found out about Jade's affair, said he'd contracted HIV too. He was pissed off."

"So there was a confrontation?"

"Five months ago, maybe less. He said we needed to stay away from Jade…but she was too into it." David wiped Tori's cheek with a tissue and Trina's chest began to ache. "I started to develop feelings for her, strangely enough, and I didn't want to stop. He seemed angrier about the HIV thing though, but still wanted us to stay away from Jade."

"Were there any threats? Was there any reason to believe he might try and harm you?"

"Only one time. He sent a letter once." Tori raised her hand, pointing nowhere in particular. "There should be a box in my apartment. It has a letter from him, stating he would 'get us back' for the disease and for the betrayal. Betrayal being the affair." Tori furrowed her brow. "We didn't know what he meant by it, but he said we 'wouldn't know when, wouldn't know how'…" Tori looked into Trina's eyes with great concern. "Trina? Do you think Beck did this?"

"We're not sure right now." Trina's voice trembled as she squeezed her sister's hand. "If he is, and you are able, would you be willing to testify?"

"Yes…If I'm able, I'll testify against whoever you find." Tori closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "I don't want to think it would be Beck, but I understand. I-I feel like…I don't want to think that he could do this."

"I know. I know it's hard." She wasn't sure what to say, or even how to make it any easier. The fact of the matter was that Beck was their primary suspect, and there was no going back from that. Tori's testimony would be one of the most helpful tools for the investigation. "I don't want to have to put you through this, Tori. Not when you're just waking up."

"It has to be done. I don't remember much, I know the person that attacked us, he spoke, he wanted me to suffer…to pay."

"Is it possible that it is anyone from the industry?"

"I don't believe so. If it is anyone, I think it would be Beck…He's had so many fights with Andre and myself ever since finding out about everything."

"Did those ever get physical?"

"Yes. Many times. Andre would push him or he'd push Andre, then someone would take a swing." Tori turned her head, gazing out the door. "I don't feel safe." Trina looked back and nodded her head.

"Don't worry Tori, we're going to have somebody posted at your door." They'd already had police standing guard just in case the assailant tried to finish the job. Now it was even more necessary that they have someone posted constantly.

Tori lifted her chest in an attempt to move, then sank back in the bed with a sigh. "Beck has done so well over the last ten years. Working for that glass company though, it takes a lot of his time away from Jade, but he was able to take care of her. Support her and pay the bills. She didn't have to work, but she wanted to."

"I see."

"You know. Jade." Tori looked up into Trina's eyes and frowned deeply. "She and Beck had a little kid once." Trina's eyebrows rose and Tori shook her head slowly. "Just after you left, she was pregnant. So that child would be nine years old today."

"What happened?"

"There was an incident." Tori closed her eyes and raised a weak hand in the air. She seemed to be trying to move her hand towards her head, but was too tired. "That baby was three or four years old, drawing on the sidewalk with play chalk. Absolutely nothing should have gone wrong, but there was a drunk driver on the road…" Feeling nauseous and upset, Trina moved her hand down to her stomach and started to turn her head. "He jumped the curb."

It was a travesty that should never have happened, she couldn't imagine how Jade or even Beck must have felt. "That's horrible."

"Yeah. Doctors thought the kid could have been saved with a blood transfusion, but it was too late. Ever since, the only thing Beck's ever wanted to do outside of work is to donate; So that maybe his blood donation could be enough to save a little kid's life."

"I see."

"According to us, we took that from him. We took everything from him, and he hated us for it."

"Did he say that?"

"Yes…His words."

Tori moved her hand outward, touching Trina's wrist. Trina smiled gently as her sister's fingers trembled and curled around her arm. "Trina, I'm so sorry. For everything." She closed her eyes.

"It's okay Tori."

"It's not. I love you. I never meant to make you think I didn't." Tori sniffed and started to lean upwards. Trina moved over, placing a hand on her sister's back to stabilize her. Tori pushed her arms timidly around her chest. Trina started to choke up, sobbing once as she held her sibling. "I'm glad you're home."

"I'm married. Live about four hours from here."

"Don't leave me again. Please."

"No." She chuckled once and looked up at her dad. "You and Dad both are coming home with me when this is all over." There wasn't space enough in her apartment for either, but she could help Tori find something in their town.

After the visit, Trina made her way out of the room, wiping her eyes. She caught a glimpse of a cracked window in the corner of her peripheral. Two doctors were standing at it, studying it close, looking away only when she walked up. "Broken window?"

"Yes," one doctor replied, "There are a couple in this hallway that are like this. We're replacing them with stronger panes overnight."

"I see…" She furrowed her brow and made her way back to the room. She had an odd feeling and knew something needed to be done. There was an officer standing guard outside Tori's door, so she signaled the officer over. "I want heavy guard at Tori's room day in and day out-especially at night. Is that possible?"

The officer nodded. "Yes ma'am, we can put more units in position here."

"Thank you."

So much has happened here in this chapter, from the reveal in the beginning to Tori finally waking up. She's got a ways to go yet, but she'll be a crucial witness as her stength starts to improve.