Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.

Unfairly Judged.

Chapter 23 – Dark Lady

Tori's Pov

I woke up a little after 9 am, feeling a lot better than I did when I arrived. I should feel better, considering I had slept more than 12 hours. As I crawled from bed, stretched and shook of the last of sleep, I suddenly realized I could smell bacon.

Following my nose, I walked out of my room and down to the kitchen, where I found Jade, in the middle of scrambling some eggs. She was wearing black shorts, a plain black t-shirt,and some sort of black apron with writing on it that I could not quite read. That was all well and normal for Jade, but the sight of her cooking took me slightly aback.

As she cooked, not noticing my presence, she sang along to a radio in the corner that was playing an oddly fitting song, "Dark Lady" by Cher.

"Dark Lady laughed and danced and lit the candles one by one
Danced to her gypsy music till her brew was done
Dark Lady played back magic till the clock struck on the twelve
She told me more about me than I knew myself"

Suddenly noticing me, her face briefly flushed red with embarrassment, before quickly scowling.

However, before she could speak, I remarked. "I thought you hated cooking, you mentioned it in, what Jade hates, video #17."

Jade looked mildly impressed for a moment as she glanced at me, before returning her attention to egg's, cooking in front of her.

"Lots of people know how to do things they hate." Quipped Jade, as she took a pair of tongs and flipped one of the pieces of bacon over that were frying in a pan next to the eggs.

"I was going to surprise you by having it all ready, but you screwed it up by waking too soon." Added Jade.

She was making breakfast for me, which was rather flattering. "Thank you. Do you want me to help?"

Jade then turned to me, revealing her apron which in big red letters said. "I poisoned the food, DIE MUTHERFUCKERS."

"No! Get cleaned up, you're my guest, we've got a lot to talk about and I want to start this day out right, by me doing something for you. Breakfast will be ready in 15 minutes. Now get out of my hair."

A lot did need to be discussed and not wanting to ruin Jade's gesture, I turned and headed towards the bathroom. 15 minutes wasn't enough time to shower, but it gave me time to wash up and put on some clean sweats.

By the time I had emerged, Jade had breakfast ready to go on the large table in front of the picture window. The food looked quite good and with the incredible view of the mountains.

"What's for breakfast?"

Jade motioned for me to sit down. "Scrambled eggs, with cheddar cheese, bacon, toast and hash browns. Coffee and orange juice of course."

It was only after I had sat down, did I realized that Jade had sat at the other end of the long table, despite the fact that there were several chairs that were closer. I guess this physical distance mirrors the emotional distance between us.

Looking up at Jade, I could see she had quietly started to eat, looking only at the food sitting on her plate.

Not wanting my food to get cold I started to eat myself.

We spend the next several minutes eating in an increasingly awkward silence broken only by the occasional clink of a fork against a plate. ,

"The food's really good. Thank you." I said.

"Welcome."

We ate for a bit longer, when Jade looked up and said. "A bit of bad news. The weather said that the remains of Tropical storm Clarissa, has changed direction and is headed this way. We're under a severe thunderstorm watch starting at 5:00 pm. They said it could be a bad storm. I was going to take you out for dinner, but I'd hate to get caught in a storm. Granted I like storms, but not driving in them. So, I'll make some spaghetti and meatballs instead. I just need run into town and get some stuff a bit later."

"That will be fine, thanks."

It was strange, us eating in silence, reminded me of some old married couple who's long run out of things to say to each other. To be honest, I know we had a lot to work out, but I really didn't know how to begin.

Finally, just as I was finishing my eggs, I had an idea.

"Jade?"

The Goth took a bite of toast and looked up. "Yes."

I was a bit nervous about how Jade would react, but I went for it. "I know we have a lot to work out, but at the moment, neither of us appears to be saying anything. Perhaps like me, you just don't know how to start. Maybe even a bit scared. Am I right?"

Jade nodded.

"I was thinking just now, perhaps we need to know where we want to go first. See if it's the same place. Let me ask you. Assuming we work things out, what do you want; Ultimately to come out of this."

Jade leaned back in her chair and looked out the window for a moments at mountain valley below. Turning back to me, she weakly smiled. "Tori, I can't stop thinking about you. Not just how pretty you are, or how upbeat you are, it's everything. I just want to be around you. To put it simply, a long term relationship. But let's face it, the term girlfriend is just a label. And I hate labels, they say so little."

Jade then paused as if she was searching for the right words or perhaps for some measure of courage. I said nothing and continued to listen intently.

Jade then cleared her throat and looked right into my eyes. In that moment I could see a vulnerability that I had never seen before. "I want….I want to be someone's world. I want that person to be mine. I want someone who will adore me, even when I'm not adorable."

The statement was actually very touching and I think made my heart skip a beat or two. Jade was really endeavoring to show her sensitive side to me. She looked like she wanted to say more but I sensed she just didn't have the strength to

"I like that, a lot." I said, allowing myself to hope things could work out.

"Good, what about you?"

I began to speak, but found my voice quivering slightly. Now I was nervous. "Well, a long term relationship is what I want. But like you said, the term girlfriend is just a word, a label. I want someone who holds my hand when I'm walking with them, not just because it's nice, but because they won't feel right not holding my hand. I want someone who when I see them smile, I feel wonderful. How's that for a job description?"

Jade nodded and continued, sounding rather serious. "Well at least on that, it sounds like we're on the same page; a deep personal bond. But getting there, won't be easy. We've already had several….bumps in the road."

"But we're still here. Most normal people would have called it quits and moved on by now."

"Are you saying we're not normal?" Replied Jade with a raised eyebrow as she drained her cup of coffee."

Tori shrugged. "Certain accusations have been made."

"Fair enough."

"Jade, you've already made an effort to apologize, though we need to discuss it further, but I think it's time for me to apologize. I reacted badly, to your mothers…insults. I felt alone, unsupported…."

I let that last word hang for a moment and perhaps with a bit of bitterness, but I couldn't help it. I quickly continued, forcing myself back into apology mode.

"In any case, me loosing my temper, what I said, was uncalled for, regardless of the circumstances. It hurt your mother, it hurt you and it hurt us. I am sorry.

Jade finished the last of her toast and nodded. ""We hurt each other, there's no escaping that, an apology wouldn't be enough to get past this, so maybe when we're ready to forgive each other we also will be able to trust each other and fully this time. It will take time but I'm willing to go the distance."

Surprisingly, I felt a load off my shoulders.

"Jade, it's more than just that. Lets face it I have both trust and anger issues and more than once that has caused problems. Again I'm sorry. "

"Putting the anger aside for a moment, you still don't fully trust me."

"Is that a question or a statement?"

Jade quickly smirked in reply. "Just say it Tori. We'll never get anywhere without honesty."

"I want to, more than anything, but I still don't fully. As evidenced by my assumption that your pacing was something deliberate to freak me out."

Just saying that, made me feel terrible. I know it's not what Jade wanted to hear. Here I am, supposed to fix things.

"Thank you for your honesty. I expected that and….let's face it, I've done my share to make you not trust me. Beck told me that sometimes I'm too good of an actress. In reference to you're the song you heard me singing to earlier, perhaps I played the part of the Dark lady just too well. "

"Not a part I'd want to play too long, you remember what happens to her in the end of the song."

Jade nodded. "Shot for sleeping with someone else's husband."

"I was honest, so be honest with me. It hurts you that I don't trust you. You feel pain."

"Yes, I want you to trust me, but I know it's partially my fault. "

We finished breakfast and cleaned up, all the while talking about the nature of trust. We talked about how it's gained, how it's lost and how there are many different levels of trust. While the conversation was mostly general, Jade admitted that me not believing her when she first asked me out, hurt her quite badly. But a lot of that was also wrapped up in guilt for how she had treated me.

I told her that I felt terrible about that and continue to feel terrible about my inability to fully trust her.

Ultimately she told me that in the end, she hoped that I would one day come to trust her completely but realizes that won't' be easy as after all she was Jade. She also said that there was pain but she would bear it.

After breakfast was cleaned up, we moved to the patio and sat down where the conversation turned to my temper.

"Jade, I not only have trust issues, but a bit of a fiery Latina temper."

Almost immediately, Jade shook her head. "There's no such thing."

"Huh?"

"A Latina temper or Latin temper. Yes, you're a Latina, yes you have a bit of a temper, but they really don't have much, if anything to do with each other. You being Latina, doesn't make you more inherently angry or subject to being angry, than being Irish makes you a drunk."

"I never really thought of it that way."

"Sure, different cultures approach emotional displays in different ways, but I think, linking your Latina ancestry with your emotional states isn't' something you should do. It's a poor stereotype."

"Just who are you? You're sounding awfully rational." I said with a suspicious look.

"I can, be when I want to be."

"So you have a temper, it's just who you are. I get mad too. Just try to work it out in more productive ways. "

"But I hurt you, I punched you in the face." I said, feeling a surge of guilt.

Jade scrunched her face. "Yes, let's not remind me of that."

I stood up. "No, I was thinking I don't want this to hang over our head. I'll be right back."

I ran into my room and picked up a very small box and returned to the patio.

"What's that?" Asked Jade

Opening the box, I pulled out a boxers mouth guard. "I hit you in the face, so I want you to hit me in the face. This is to make sure you don't break my teeth. I thought of this yesterday morning. I didn't hurt your teeth. I want it to be the same for me as it was for you."

Jade stood up and looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "You want me to hit you."

"Yes" I said with determination. "So we can be 100% even and this can never come between us again."

"In the face?"

"Yes."

I put the mouth guard in and stood ready for the punch.

"In the face? Really Vega?"

I nodded and pointed to my jaw.

Jade shrugged, "Ok then."

I could see Jade start to move her arm back and right then I braced myself for the hit to the Jaw.

Right then, Jade threw her punch.

Right into my stomach.

I was expecting a hit to the face, not the stomach. Almost instantly the wind was knocked out of me and I quickly crumpled to the ground.

Jade quickly helped me up and helped into a chair. All I could say, as I tried to catch my breath was.

"What?"

"You see Vega. I hit you in the stomach for three reasons. First, you said you wanted it to be the same. I wasn't expecting to be hit in the face, you were. So I hit you in the stomach, where you weren't expecting it. Second, I happen to like that pretty face of yours and would hate to leave a mark on it and hitting you in the Jaw, certainly would. Third, you come home with a bruise on your face, your father will probably just shoot me. So I'm sorry, I know we talked about the whole trust thing, but it was the only way. I do feel better."

As much as I hate to say it, Jade was right.

"Tell you what, you like nature, There's a trail not far from here. We've got a few hours before the storm comes in. Once you catch your breath, we'll do some walking. Just walking. Enjoy the scenery and each other. We can talk more later. Sound good? Dark Lady promises to be good."

It was an odd way to start a day, but all things considered, we were on the right track. So I nodded yes.

The lyrics to the song "Dark Lady" by Cher were used without permission.

Thanks to Invader Johnny.