Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: This chapter. The ending process of this chapter is going to show you something important. That is this story while it is true to the series, at the same time it is not to follow the story line by line or word for word. Some events that happen in the show will happen here, but they will happen differently because there are certain things that-despite both Beck's and Jade's issue of reverting back to their teenage personalities, the two of them just aren't going to do. So there will be differences, and you are going to see what differences those may be.

Chapter 4 (Meet the Children)

With her back against the locker in the hallway of the school, Jade had her eyes closed and listened to the serene music drifting from the music box in her locker. While it was chilling in its own right, it filled her with a sense of peace and happiness that she needed.

She hummed along with the tune, singing softly the words she knew went with the lullaby it played. Every muscle and nerve in her body was relaxed and her breaths were subtle.

As her eyes started to open, she could make out the image of her toddler standing before her. Watching her. Her heart skipped a beat and she moved her head slightly to the right. The image soon faded from view, and in the child's place was a girl with fluffy brown hair and wide chestnut eyes that looked hauntingly like those of her eldest child.

"That music, that lullaby…" the girl said with a soft and trembling tone. Jade raised an eyebrow up and glanced at her locker. "Where did you get that?" Jade wiped a stray tear from her cheek and reached in to close the lid on the brass box.

"My mother gave it to me. As for the song, she used to always sing it to me before bed." She wanted to say she did the same for her children, but held back knowing she couldn't explain what she meant. "Have you heard it before?"

The girl scrunched her nose and her forehead started to fold up in the center. "I…It's just really familiar, that's all. I can't say how, sounds like something in a dream." The girl smiled at her and tugged on her purse strap. "It's haunting, but in a beautiful way."

"Thank you. I'm Jade, by the way."

"Trina." Jade's heart stopped and her eyes shot open as a numbness came over her. Her jaw fell agape and she watched as the girl turned away. "Maybe I'll see you around. I need to get to class."

She remained frozen as Trina began to walk and sing the familiar lullaby softly, but loud enough to barely be heard.

The school began to blur as she focused on the departing woman, and once more she visualized her toddler as she walked away. "Katrina?" Her voice broke and her eyes filled with tears. Her hand rose to her chest and her fingers curled over her shirt collar. "My baby. That's my baby…"

"Jade?" Beck's voice stirred her and she glanced over to see him walking towards her. He was wearing a long button up t-shirt that hung loosely over his jeans, and his hands were pocketed. The shirt was new, since he had to go and replace it during lunch after a spill that occurred in the morning.

"Beck," she replied in a breathy tone. She closed her locker and leaned sideways against it. "I think I might have just seen our oldest daughter." Intuition said it was her, just like Beck had a peculiar feeling towards the girl they ran into earlier that same morning.

The events that occurred during the morning hours were strange to her, she'd fallen into a bout of extreme jealousy when she saw a girl rubbing a coffee spill on Beck's shirt, and her anger clouded her judgements. It was something she'd not experienced since her high school days, and it terrified her.

Beck said he had a strange feeling about the girl that he couldn't put a finger on, but decided to ignore it for the moment.

"How do you know?" He asked. Jade shook her head and looked in the direction Trina walked off in.

"Just a feeling I got. I was listening to that music box and she stopped by, saying the music sounded really familiar to her, as did the lullaby I was singing with it. She said her name was 'Trina' and started singing the lullaby as she left."

Beck's eyebrows rose and he looked in the direction she was, breathing in deep. "If it was Katrina, then we're closer to our kids than we realize. Which means your sister is probably still around this town. We need to find her."

"We do…" She hooked her finger over her lower lip and nibbled at the tip of her nail while furrowing her brow. Her mind drifted back to the girl from earlier and a flicker of guilt fluttered within her heart. "I hope that girl comes back, by the way."

"What girl?"

"The one from earlier. I was hard on her this morning. I know she left to go home, I hope I didn't run her off. I'm really not sure what came over me when I attacked her like that."

"Maybe she will." He crossed his arms and shrugged. "There's something about that girl that's been bothering me. I think we should at least talk to her again. You can apologize for going off on her if you want. She does seem to be new to the school…"

"You think she is? New like we are?"

"I think we're a different kind of 'new', Jade." He joked. She rolled her eyes and he nodded. "But yeah, I was talking to Andre earlier and he said she sang in this showcase over the weekend when her sister had an allergic reaction to something."

"Oh."

"Yeah, he seems to think the reaction was planned though." Jade raised an eyebrow and Beck crossed his arms. "The girl was staring at the food for the longest time, and he remembered hearing her tell someone she was allergic to the shellfish moments before she actually ate one."

Jade pulled her hand over her mouth and looked away. "I hope she's okay!"

"I think so. I guess she didn't want to perform or something." Beck let out a sigh and slipped his arm around Jade's waist while giving her a gentle smile. "Let's go on to class, I'm sure Erwin will be wondering why we're not there." Jade laughed and leaned up to kiss Beck's jaw.

Sikowitz had been wanting to spend so much time with them since they were there, and he was often trying to talk to them and fill them in on what all had happened in their fifteen year 'absence', but they understood and honestly enjoyed the attention.

"Sure." She put her head to his shoulder and walked with him towards the classroom. "By the way, how did your father handle seeing you last night? I know Erwin went with you to try and prepare your dad for the news."

Beck whisked his hand away from his chin and smacked his lips. "There is no preparing someone for that kind of news. Dad took it hard, at first he wanted to throw me out and accused me of pretending or trying to prank him. He looked ready to keel over for the longest time…" She frowned and lowered her gaze to the floor. "Eventually he came around after I told him some things that 'only his son' would know. Erwin being there really helped, though. He tried to be a voice of reason."

"Damn." It did sound like Sikowitz's presence was truly needed. Her experience wasn't nearly as difficult. The moment her father saw her, he broke down in tears. "My dad did question whether or not I was a ghost, he said he didn't want to be in pain anymore and stuff like that, but he knew I was who I said I was, even though he didn't understand how it was physically possible."

"Glad he seemed to understand. I figure with the stuff your sister was involved with, he might understand something."

"He did…he didn't want to think my sister could have done something so terrible, but when I explained what happened, he hardly bat an eye and said he wasn't surprised. It was so strange."

Evidently Holly had done or said some things that indicated to him that she'd used witchcraft in the past and had done so around Jade. For many years he began to suspect Holly had something to do with Jade's disappearance, but never wanted to accuse her of anything because Holly was the one and only link he had to his grandchildren.

"Dad hugged me and I thought he wasn't going to let go. He just kept weeping. He's had it hard, you know."

"Yeah. We have to make this right." Beck shook his head and looked over his shoulder with a frown. He turned back and a mournful sigh rolled away from him. "My mother passed away in 2000." She faced him and her body began to feel numb from grief of the sudden news. "Her heart just gave out on her. She was always the strongest one."

She remembered his mother fondly; the woman always smiled and was always making sure her husband took his heart medication. She often acted as though she were the head of the entire family, and had taken over the duties of the 'mother to the bride' during her son's wedding to Jade.

Jade smiled at the fond memory of the woman demanding the caterer take food back that wasn't perfect, and making sure the decorations at the wedding were done in a certain way that was appropriate.

Everything had to be in order, everything needed structure and stability. That was how Beck's mother lived her entire life.

Perhaps when they disappeared, the grief and not knowing where her son or daughter-in-law had gone was just too much for her to bear. There was no way to make order out of something like that, no way to find stability.

"I…" Her voice broke and bitter tears ran from her eyes as her chest tightened. "I can't believe it. I'm sorry, Beck."

He exhaled and ran his hand through his hair, his breath was shaky and his skin seemed cold and pale. "Let's think of something else. Erwin gave me one of his 'old' newfangled 'smartphone' and wants to educate me on all the things we can do with it."

Jade turned her head sideways and cringed. "I'm not sure what stuns me more. A phone that isn't a phone, or the fact that you just used the word 'newfangled'."

"It startles me as well."

"Which thing?"

"Both. Makes me wonder if we would have been 'those' parents." She tilted up the corner of her mouth and raised her eyebrow.

"What do you mean by 'those' parents?"

"You know the ones that kids say are so out of touch with reality? I would have liked to be the cool parent, but hey, if we're out of touch we're out of touch."

"For once, I blame my sister." She knew what kind of parent they would have been, or at least the parent Beck would have been. When their daughters were born, she would joke about the men they would eventually come to date and he would get all protective and nervous. "Too bad we couldn't see you be the protective dad I always thought you'd be."

"Hah, hah, very funny."

As they entered the classroom, Jade could see the girl from earlier talking to Sikowitz. She had long, straight brown hair that travelled about an inch past her shoulders, a sweet young smile and bright hazel green eyes.

There was a sense of closeness she felt that she couldn't put her finger on, much like what Beck had explained before. The girl looked towards her with a frown and stepped away from Sikowitz while rubbing her arm gently.

"It's good to see she came back," Sikowitz said upon approaching the couple. Jade flashed a smile that faded the moment his eyes hit hers. He looked disappointed and somewhat confused. "What happened this morning, Jade. I need to talk to you, perhaps, but later."

"What got her to come back?"

"Her sister convinced her that it would be better for her not to give up on this school because of one 'mean girl'." He crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. "Jade?"

"Like I said before, Erwin, I have absolutely no idea what came over me earlier." She wrapped an arm around Beck's and dropped her head. "I haven't felt that jealous, that upset, since our days in high school."

Sikowitz's brow furrowed and the man breathed in long and swift. "Jade. I understand, but there's a fairly good reason for you not to be jealous of a woman that approaches your husband. Beck isn't going to leave you for another girl…" He raised his index finger and cleared his throat. "That's reason number one." She pursed her lips and watched as he gestured to the girl. "Reason number two that you shouldn't feel jealous especially of that girl right there-"

"Mr. Sikowitz?" The girl interrupted from behind. Erwin froze and glanced over. The girl was standing with her arms down in front of her waist. Her left hand was clutched over her right wrist, and her eyes were focused on Jade. There was a slightly vindictive tone to them, one that hurt her to see. "I'd like to volunteer for that improv act you have today."

"Okay." He turned to her and Jade slipped away. She grabbed an empty seat beside Cat Valentine, who was positioned behind the two boys they befriended before. "And who would you like to partner up with?" Beck started to sit down beside her, but froze when the girl spoke his name. "Um, okay, interesting choice. Let's see what you do with that. Anyone else?"

"Yes. Jade, Cat, Andre, and Robbie."

Beck followed the girl up to the stage and curled a finger over his chin as Erwin went on to explain the sketch act. They were to start a sentence with the designated letter of the alphabet, maintaining a conversation with the next letter in the order. If they break the order, they are out of the game.

Jade did her best to stay in the game, lasting longer than Andre, Robbie, and Cat, but she soon fell when the girl said something that upset her. This left the girl up there with Beck, and he seemed to be doing well to keep the conversation going.

To her understanding, the girl's name was Tori. Jade thought it was peculiar and interesting, because her youngest daughter's name was Victoria. Tori looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, but she didn't want to make assumptions after already running into Trina just a few moments earlier.

By the time they reached the letter 'J", Jade was noticing how stiff her husband appeared. He had his hand over his chin and his right index finger over his upper lip. His body was tense, his eyes narrow and his head bowed. It was the stance he took when he was deep in thought about something that was bugging him. Normally she would ask him what he was thinking about and try to figure a solution to whatever problem was on his mind, but now wasn't the appropriate time to do so.

Erwin was in the back of the room, nervously clutching a raw coconut in his hands.

"Kiss me," Tori said finally with a vindictive glance at Jade. Jade froze and she felt a sudden wave of anger pulse through her veins. She turned it away almost in an instant, not wanting to let an emotion she hadn't felt in years come to light.

In the corner of her eyes she saw Erwin flinch and instantly start sliding his hand across his throat as if trying to tell Beck to avoid this. Beck didn't break from his posture. His eyes slid out to the corners and moved from Erwin to Jade.

"Let's not do that," Beck replied with an incredibly calm voice. Tori's shoulders fell and she seemed to shrink as her expression turned from confident to hurt. "Something isn't right here."

Jade felt a rush of relief and sank into her chair with a content sigh. "Maybe just one?" Tori replied. Beck's gaze darted over and his index finger slid across his upper lip while his head shook from side to side.

"No."

"Oh, okay…did I say something wrong?"

"Possibly."

"Quit being so short."

Tori pursed her lips and put her hands to her hips. It was then that Jade noticed something odd about the girl's posturing. Her right forefinger was tapping on her waist, her right eyebrow had risen, and her left foot was slowly tapping, one second at a time, on the floor.

It was the same posture that Jade took when she was hurt but upset about something not going her way.

When she turned to look at Erwin, he was mouthing the words 'thank god' and appeared in a state of great relief.

Jade took a second to ponder the man's reaction and turned back to the stage. Beck lowered his hand and sighed heavily. "Right, sorry about that, but I think I should probably stop."

"Stop what?"

"Talking, since that's what might get me in trouble."

Tori's lips pursed and she spread her arms out. "What's going to get you in trouble just by talking?" Sikowitz stood suddenly, laughing and clapping his hands together once.

"Tori, you're out!" Tori turned to face him, her face twisted with shock and her eyes filled with disappointment. "The next letter was the letter 'U'. Understand that you shall not proceed, and the winner is Beckett." The man put his hand to his chest and his cheeks puffed out as he let out a loud exhale. "You may return to your seat now, Victoria…Vega."

Jade threw back her head and Beck's eyes grew into saucers as Erwin peered out to the two of them. Vega. The minute she recognized the last name, her heart sank and she began to question her own thoughts on the matter.

Vega was the last name of Holly's most recent boyfriend. David.

When she looked to Beck, she saw his skin turning green and his hands moved to his mouth and stomach. If it was true and this was their daughter, they would have to talk to the girl immediately.

The only question was how, and just what was there to say when they looked like teenagers? It wasn't as though they could come right out and say they were her parents, and certainly not after the show Tori nearly put on stage.

She wanted to laugh at the circumstance, she wanted to tease her husband, but couldn't stomach it. Tori was angry because of Jade's earlier jealousy, so she understood why she wanted to get Beck to kiss her, but she was grateful now for another reason entirely that Beck had the sense of control to not allow it to happen.

He just dodged a proverbial bullet that could have destroyed him entirely.

Well what are your thoughts? Observations? Do tell