Disclaimer: Still don't own.

:}

Beck was sitting in the small cafe, enjoying the morning sun, when he was joined by what he'd jokingly called his non-date, Tori Vega. "Yo, Tori, how's it been?"

"Oh, you know." The singer hedged. "Things have been good. I mean, I do have my dramas… You?"

"You thought I'd have gone running back to her by now, except…" He stopped. "Look, lets not pretend what happened didn't happen. Yes, last year, Jade and I broke up after way to many years of on and off dating. I should have been honest, not tried for the long distance chiz while we were in such different places. Her going off to film school and me working on my career, it put too much of a strain on things. I mean, you understand, right? You chose career, so you understand just how much work it involves, right?"

"You waited until she finished, then broke it off." Tori noted. "Beck, whats up with that? It's like, we know Jade, know how she can be…"

"Which is why I let her have that illusion." The boy sighed. "It was hard on me too. For four years, it was hard on me. And I tried. I tried to stay faithful, and for the most part, I succeeded. Heck, it helped me focus on my career. Stayed focused on building my career as an actor. You understand how hard that part it, right? It's not like you dated that much while building yours."

"But I did date." She said. "And what do you mean almost?"

"Just a little kissing, maybe some light petting, here and there." Beck insisted. "Nothing serious. Nothing like…" He gulped. "This was supposed to be a simple breakfast, us reconnecting. Didn't mean for it to become such a thing... Look, I'm sorry. I know shouldn't have used Trina like that. Just, when I ran into her... and when did she become a weather girl, anyways?"

"Couple of years ago. She transitioned from piece of meat in a Spanish language show to piece of meat telling people about the weather on Spanish language news." Tori sighed. "She said she told you, how it was part of her plan, to move into anchoring. She was getting her degree in journalism, before she discovered how little the networks valued having that kind of background. At least not for an anchorwoman. So, while you two were screwing around, she'd shifted to doing some sports casting, cause that has value to so many of those networks. Just had to learn how to say goal and make it last… Sorry, soccer joke." the briefest smile flashed on her beautiful face.

"How's she doing, anyways?" Beck felt nervous, given the way he'd left it with her sister.

"She's good." Tori said, eyeing the boy. "She kept the child, even after you broke it off, swearing this was supposed to just be a rebound affair. You and Jade had been functionally broken up for years, and yet, you told my sister it was all a rebound." The singer was vibrating with rage, somehow holding it in.

"Tori, please, we may have been apart, really no longer a couple, but that didn't mean we were broken up." The Canadian insisted. "Jade has and will always hold a special place in my heart. But it was more then that, more then needing my confidence rebuilt, something I hadn't realized Jade's regular calls had been doing. It was that, I needed the shield Jade represented, cause I wasn't, am not ready for a relationship like that... a family. I… She kept the child?"

"In return for an anchor spot in Miami." Tori informed him. "Yea, her way too catholic bosses told her, if she kept the child, they'd give her the anchor spot in Miami, evening news. Not even the morning show, where they'd been grooming this guy, only for him to go and ruin things by cheating on his wife. I mean, damn, to my surprise, it turns out, in that market, a scorned woman who intended to marry her fella, and wound up preggers, that they can sell as sympathetic. Where as that guy using his little bit of fame to score, that was predatory. Plus, her new station manager has given her a list of acceptable behaviors, and get this, she can even score herself a chick and it'd be okay, just as long as she's monogamous. They just need her to seem family friendly, and in the modern world…" She shook her head, smiling again. "The more things change, the more they stay the same…"

"I'm glad she landed on her feet.." He chuckled. "So, we okay?"

"Not yet." Tori sighed, her smile gone. "Wanted to hurt you. I honestly did. I even thought about luring Jade someplace and killing her, just to hurt you." She saw the shocked look on the boys face. "Hello, still me. No way I could do that. Bitchy as she was, no mater how much she cut us all off after you dumped her last year, only for you to spend six months nailing my sister before leaving her, I couldn't bring myself to hurt Jade. Hell, it made the way I did take her that much harder…"

"Sorry, did you kidnap her?" Beck was trying to catch up. "Look, I did this. Let her go, leave her out this."

"Oh, I didn't hurt her." Tori smirked. "I just, I figured her out. I wanted to hurt you, and she was always the key, so I tracked her down, tricked her into getting drunk, and hauled her ass off to this cabin I rented up in Tahoe. Once there, I made it very clear she could just walk out at any time. Only a mile to civilization, through where there were bears and other wild animals…." She chuckled. "But she wasn't a prisoner, and could always say no. Course, no way I could physically overpower her. Girls hella strong. I just, I understood, she wanted to be taken, just as long as she knew it was safe, make believe..."

"Taken, as in…" His eyes looked over the Latina again, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "So to get back at me, you seduce my ex? And what, that's supposed to hurt?"

"I spent a whole weekend fucking her sideways." Tori countered. "But that was just the opening gambit. Then, after, around my and her schedules, I moved her still struggling ass into my Hollywood home, not six miles from here, and made her my woman. Funny, I was so sure I was gonna suffer for helping Trina, you know, dig two graves and all, but I've been enjoying this way more then I should." She exhaled. "Point is, I snagged the one person I know you've ever loved, made her mine, and I'm gonna have a family with her. In the name of revenge, I'm willing to fall for her, again way easier then I thought it'd be, and have a family, just so you don't have that safety net to fall back on." She leaned in a touch, closing the distance ever so slightly, while still making him feel stalked. "See, Beck, when I realized how to get her, that Jade wanted to be controlled, taken, dominated, I also realized she'd always been your safety net. You only broke up cause she was getting in the way, wanting time you weren't ready to spend. However, you always knew, in your heart, she'd be there. When you needed your wold stabilized, someone to care for you, she'd always be there. Jade's so hard to deal with sometimes, I'd have sworn she'd be single for the rest of her life. Course, once I had her, just this last couple of weeks, I realized what you failed to understand. See, Jade's easy to love, once you're inside her walls. It's just dangerous to get there."

He scoffed. "Good luck with all that crazy."

"You mean dealing with her crazy, or my own?" Tori chuckled. "All girls have their level of crazy. Jade, as I said, she just needs to feel safe, so as long as I can occasionally show her I'm in control, then I can assign her so much of the work of keeping us moving forward. From what I'd seen, I realized, she'll put in the work, as long as she believes it leads to what she wants, or needs, or in this case, both." Her brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "I can't just lock her in my place. I have to assume she'll be there tonight, to spend more time with me. Funny, so many guys get a girl into their way to nice place, and hope she'll just leave. Me, I want my girl to stay. I want her there with me when I get home, on those long weekend when we fuck each other for hours on end, and I'm gonna want her with me next month, when we fly out to Miami and meet my new nephew."

Seeing that she was having the desired effect on the boy, Tori raised a hand, signaling for the waitress she was ready. "I can have you in my life, as a friend, just as long as you understand, I'm not some pushover. I get my revenge, and I know taking Jade, that hurt you. So, have we cleared the air yet, or is there anything else we need to talk about, cause I could use me some breakfast. Just, no waffles. I like those on days when Jade and me cuddle in, so I've had em all weekend…"

"Yea, kinda deserved that." Beck admitted, but inside, he was chuckling. 'Like that hurt…'

Only, as breakfast continued, and the subject shifted to other things, like his current project, and if he'd make an effort to be in his sons life, Beck kept finding his mind shifting back to a small hurt that was expanding in his heart.

'Why is it getting to me that Tori thought this would hurt… I mean, sure, I wasn't expecting it.' He argued with himself. 'Okay, if I'm being totally honest, given who and what Jade is, I really wasn't expecting her to be with someone, let alone Tori. And it's not like I didn't suspect, cause the attraction, I think it's always been there. But Jade, she's not the type to just change who and what she likes. Girls so set in her ways….'

They parted ways, and Beck still found his mind slipping back to that one thought, how Tori was, so far, managing to make it work with Jade. 'I should be happy for them both. Only, I'm not. I suddenly want Jade, even though I know we're chiz together. But I want her, or at least, I don't want her with someone, not while I'm single. And I do plan on George Clooney-ing it for a while, living my life but not getting tide down unless I meet someone and it just clicks. And sure, Jade and me, we almost clicked, except she's so difficult. How can I have something real with a girl who hates being happy. Only, waffles...'

He attended a meeting with his agent, going over his goals for the next few months, as well as some auditions he was planning on attending. "I can do that." He promised to one audition. "Um, wait, that movie you heard about, why isn't it on my list of auditions?"

"You'd said you wanted to avoid this West woman…" Sid, is agent, said. "She's listed to direct."

"I hadn't expected her to have such a high profile project. Not yet. Barely a year out of film school…" Beck was trying to make sense of a lot of things, including this change. 'Jade's subpar people skills were supposed to keep her from this kind of project. No, she should be struggling to make independent horror films for a bit, until her reputation is enough that the studios get interested…'

"Admittedly, she's mostly made music videos.." Sid said. "But she also did a documentary for Neutronium, and she impressed people at the studio, so that gave her this project." He checked his notes. "Yea, she also did some indi film, a horror movie that is impressing folks. Gonna kill it at the film festivals. But those videos, that must have made her some friends at Neutronium, cause they vouched for her, and she'd been given this project." He hesitated to read something. "Oh, she originally auditioned for a roll, but her friends at the label got her bumped up to directing, and she has a featured roll…."

"Jade's succeeding?" Beck tried to be happy for her. He knew he should, that in most circumstances, he's be ecstatic that one of his friends was doing this well. 'If it were Tori, I'd be more then happy for her. Hell, I was thrilled about her success in music… music, with videos… All in the last six months… Yea, Tori's been supporting her girl, cause I know Jade would never have agreed to make something as main stream as music videos normally… Tori's been good for her.'

The thought that Tori bribed Jade ate at him, even as he made his way back to his place, the apartment he was renting, so he could be here in Hollywood. He'd thought about getting a more permanent place, but until he made the kinds of money Clooney made, felt it best to live a more modest lifestyle, with few permanent ties. He wasn't struggling, not by a long shot, but it was more affordable to just rent.

'MY GOD, TORI WAS RIGHT!' The thought shook the normally calm boy to his core. "What kind of monster have I been, if I was hoping for Jade to stay single, just so I'd have my safety net? What kind of ex boyfriend am I, if knowing she's happy with someone, anyone, is hurting me so much. And, and I know Tori, I know what she's capable of. Revenge, sure, I know she has it in her, but this was cold. And, and she'll do it too. She'll have that family, make Jade feel loved and secure, maybe even fall in love, cause that's who Tori is. She's the girl who needed something permanent, but never quite found the guy who'd be there for her. Bad taste in men, bad luck, and now, a bad girl as a lover….'

A part of him envied the fight he knew it would take to keep Jade under some kind of control. 'The fight I lost…' Beck watched the wall as his thoughts circled back to that one thought, the one he'd known from the moment he'd accepted that Tori had seduced Jade. 'Tori can do this. She can contain her. Hell, she's always read Jade better then I did, and that includes the time she tried setting her up. I remember, back then, thinking about how that wasn't gonna work, cause Jade, she's not the kind to take charity. However, if Tori had come at her, like that, like the way she told me she convinced Jade to be with her, I believe she'd have been the one Jade was singing about.' The last thought was sobering. 'Who was Jade singing about…?'

Finally, Beck started to accept that he'd been hurt, and deeply. 'She took away the safety net. Tori took herself away, and she took Jade, my fallback plan, and in one move she took both away. Yea, that's gonna take some time to get over. Didn't see that one coming. And the worst thing is, that roll I was eyeing, I know I'll get it. Jade's not the one holding a grudge. But because Tori supported Jade, not propped up, but encouraged, helped her grow, Jade'll be directing a film I wanna be a part of, and that means I'll be dealing with them both for the foreseeable future.'

"Sid, it's Beck." He didn't remember picking up the phone. "I'm gonna take some time next month to fly out to Miami and deal with s mess I left there." He was feeling the shame now, added to everything else. 'No escaping that part of my life, so it's time to reclaim that good guy I used to be…' He looked off towards the future. "No, turns out, I'm gonna be a father. Yea, first I heard of it myself…."

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Hope you enjoyed this little revenge plot. Gotta love the indirect aproach.