Sorry for the long wait. This is the final chapter, and I may or may not write a sequel to this. If I do, it'll be Tori and Jade getting together, instead of leaving it open.
Thank you for the follows, faves, and reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'VicTORious' or 'iCarly', or any characters.
No POV
"What the hell?" Tori and Jade asks, staring at their phones. "How does she think this is a good idea?" Jade asks, shaking her head.
"This is insane." Tori says, looking for Shelby's number through her phone. "Shel, what the hell?" She asks, walking to the kitchen, leaving Jade in the living room.
"I know what I'm doing, Tori." Shelby says, sighing at the end. "This secret was putting too much strain on the family. You guys letting me stay at home only made things worse because you guys have to be careful who you have over, and no one can talk about me anywhere." She says, her voice soft. "I can't keep expecting everyone to keep my secret. I asked you to do it, and I'm ending it."
"This is stupid." Tori says, starting to pace around the kitchen. "You didn't ask us to keep the secret, we chose to."
"If it wasn't for me, nothing would have happened between you and Jade. If it wasn't for me, maybe you and Jade would be together." Shelby says, closing her eyes as she rests on a chair in the gym where she's been working out some self-frustration as she builds up the courage to record the video.
"You don't know that." Tori counters, heading to the stairs to head to her room, not noticing Jade watching her. "There's no guarantee that anything would've happened, or not happen."
"It's too late, Tori. I already promised the news that I had an announcement, and I'd be doing it live in a few hours." Shelby says, standing up. "I am truly sorry for everything. We'll talk later." She says, hanging up.
"Take me to the gym." Tori tells Jade when she turns around, not very surprised to see the Goth behind her.
"Why? What's going on?" Jade asks, following the half-Latina downstairs.
"Shelby's doing a live video later. I need to talk her out of it." Tori says, grabbing her jacket and leaving the house, waiting for Jade to leave before closing and locking the door.
"If it's live, than we have a good chance of stopping it." Jade says, walking quickly to her car, unlocking the doors.
"I know. But there's something else." Tori says, eyes on the road as Jade drives away.
"What do you mean?" Jade asks, not arguing why Tori's talking to her instead of ignoring her like she expected, regardless that they were starting to work past everything.
"I don't know. I get the feeling there's more than she's saying though, like it's more than just her thinking that the secret is hurting the family." Tori says, staring ahead.
"What do you mean?" Jade asks, stopping at a redlight.
"I don't know. Whatever it is, she's keeping it from me, and I don't like it." Tori says, not looking at the Goth.
Around ten minutes later, Jade parks beside Rod's car, the two quickly getting out and heading to the doors, Jade locking the doors behind her. "Thank God, you're here." Rod says, worried, when Tori and Jade walk into the gym. "You have to talk Shelby out of this." He says, leading them to the locker room.
"It's why I'm here." Tori says, walking past him.
"What are you doing here?" Shelby asks when Tori walks over to her, Jade behind her, as she stands up to face her sister.
"To talk you out of this. The secret isn't causing any problems between us." Tori says, stopping a few feet in front of the MMA fighter. "But that's not the main reason, is it?" She asks, staring into her twin's eyes. "What else is driving you to tell everyone?" She questions, crossing her arms over her stomach.
"One of my opponents knows about you, and threatened to tell everyone unless I throw my next bout against her for the title." Shelby admits, sitting back on the small bench. "I'm not going to risk the backlash for that, what it'll end up doing to you, Trina, mom and dad. So, I'm going to get it out myself, not give her the power, and explain why it was a secret." She says, toying with the hem of her loose, light grey tank top.
"Shelby, we don't care about this secret. Why do you think we're being hurt, or whatever, by the secret?" Tori asks, sitting beside Shelby. "Besides, it's not like it's really a secret. We don't tell anyone because it's not their business. And the cops and everyone else know you're a member of the family because of the paperwork mom and dad fill out every year. We're not lying about it or anything." She says, shifting to face Shelby a bit better.
"But it feels like it does." Shelby counters, shifting to face Tori. "I have to do this. It's best for everyone. Okay?" She says, standing up. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to finish my work out. See you later." She says, leaving after taking her tank top off, showing her light purple training bra, and heading out.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Jade says, watching the door Shelby just left out of.
"So do I." Tori says, getting up.
An hour later, the three girls find themselves in the locker room, Shelby fresh out of a shower and dressed in her casual clothes, sitting on the bench as Shelby puts her work out clothes in her gym bag. "Don't do this, Shel." Tori says, repeating herself again as Shelby zips up her bag and takes a swig of water.
"You're not going to talk me out of this, Tori." Shelby says, putting her water bottle in a pocket on her bag. "I've made up my mind, and you know it's hard to change that." She says, leaving the locker room with Tori and Jade behind her.
"Come on, Shelby. Don't do this. This could ruin your career. We don't know what kind of backlash this could cause." Rod says as the three girls walk into the gym area.
"I'm not changing my mind, Rod." Shelby says, stopping in front of her manager. "At this point, I don't care about my fighting career anymore. Family is more important."
"And your family doesn't want you potentially ruining your career for us." Tori counters, grabbing Shelby's arm and making her turn to face her. "Don't do this, Shel. Please." She begs, eyes locked on the matching set of her twin.
"I'm sorry, but I'm doing this Tori. I have to." Shelby says, walking over to the back wall, where the small weights sit.
"Why? Why do you have to do this?" Tori asks, following Shelby.
"Because there's no reason to keep this a secret anymore." Shelby says, grabbing her Pearbook and setting it on a small table. "I'm not ashamed of you guys, and I don't want anyone thinking I am." She says, turning her Pearbook on.
"Why do you think this will prove you're sorry?" Jade asks as Shelby signs on and gets her video chat ready.
"I hurt my sister, my twin, because I didn't think about her feelings. Now, I am." Shelby says, looking at the Goth as she sits down in front of her Pearbook.
As Shelby gets things ready, Tori looks down and sighs, feeling bad for Shelby thinking she has to do this, while knowing that her saying she forgives Shelby wouldn't mean anything, knowing Shelby will doubt her and say she's only saying it to stop her, not because she means it.
"Hi. My name, or at least the name the world knows me by, is Shelby Marx. But, my real name is Shelby Vega. I am the granddaughter of Edith Marx-Vega, daughter of L.A.P.D. Detective David Vega, and his wife Holly Vega, a highly skilled lawyer." Shelby says, eyes on the camera. "And, I have two sisters. Trina, the eldest, and Tori, my twin who is a little less than ten minutes older than me. " She says, glancing at Tori. "I am doing this because I am tired of hiding my family from the world." She says, looking back at the camera. "Now, the world knows my greatest secret. I know this could potentially ruin my fighting career, but I know it might not matter. And to a certain fighter who was planning on blackmailing me into throwing our fight for my belt, your plan failed." She says, shutting off the camera.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Shel." Tori says, moving to stand beside her twin.
"Me too." Shelby whispers, looking at Tori as she stands up, earning nods of agreement from Rod, Juan, and even Jade.
That's it for this chapter, and maybe the fic. I might make an epilogue, don't know for sure yet.
Is it weird that the only part of this fic I had planned, other than the first couple of chapters, was the ending, with Shelby telling everyone about her family? I don't usually plan my endings, I just let them go until I feel they're at their end.
Thank you for reading, and please review.
Blessed Be.